Team Aeternum: From Heaven to Hell
by TheRedGhillie
Summary: A single promise between Minato and Jiraiya changes the course of history as a new team is formed, shaking the foundation of Heaven, Hell and everything in between! They met when they were young, and grew up together as best friends, but will that bond between them survive the long road ahead? Strong!Brawler!Naruto, Strong!Trapper!Shikamaru, Strong!Pyromaniac!Shino
1. Legends

**Team Aeternum**

**[Alternate Universe] A single promise between the Yondaime and Jiraiya of the Sannin changes the course of history. A new team is formed, shaking the foundation of Heaven, Hell and everything in between. Join the lives of Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara and Shino Aburame as they travel the road in becoming legendary.**

**Chapter 1: Legends **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Enjoy**

A sight to behold for the five year old boy: two other boys his age across the river in the park, each of them separate from one another as they fed the fish in the river. With nobody else in the park, it really made the scene stand out since the park is normally filled with the chatter of families spending their time together, but now it was quiet except for the songs that played from the birds in the trees above.

The two boys before him continued to toss pieces of bread towards the water, gathering the attention of dozens of hungry fish, without as much as a single glance towards one another.

A gentle push moved the boy forward, yet as he turned around he found nobody to be there. He must have made some noise, for when he turned around the two other boys were looking at him. They then turned and noticed one another for the first time. The trio of kids fed the fish in silence until one by one they left the park as time passed.

**The next day**

The three boys were present again, and surprisingly, alone once more. The park was empty again, save for the three young boys, each in the same spot as before. This time, however, they acknowledged one another. The blonde gave a small wave to the other two, while the one wearing sunglasses gave a small nod of his head and the one with the small ponytail did nothing, but nonetheless noticed them.

The rest of their time in the park was spent in silence once more.

**The following day**

Today was different. The three boys were present once again, but their locations were somewhat different. The blonde was now seated on the red little bridge that connected both sides of the park across the river. He was looking at the water below, the bread absent from his hands. He turned to each side and gave a small wave similar to the one he had given the day before.

In future years, the other two boys will not be able to describe what exactly drove them to move towards the red bridge and offer their bread to the blonde. Not a push, or a shove, but a hidden force that got their feet moving towards him.

His smile was full and wide, as if it were his first gift in his life. He was at a loss of words, yet a whisper in his ear told him to speak his name.

"T-Thank you...! My name is Naruto!" The blonde said with excitement.

The other two looked at the blonde and then at each other before nodding.

"I'm Shikamaru." The boy with the ponytail introduced himself with a smile.

"My name is Shino." The boy with the sunglasses supplied quietly from his end.

The trio of boys spent the rest of their time in the park talking to one another as they fed the fish.

It was only several hours later when a voice was heard coming their way. "Oi Shikamaru, time to go." The voice belonged to a man named Shikaku Nara. The head of the Nara clan and Shikamaru's father knelt down in front of his son and ruffled his head before noticing the two boys next to him.

"Oh, are these your friends Shikamaru?" Shikaku asked with interest.

"H-Hai… This is Naruto and Shino." The young Nara explained as he pointed to the boys respectively.

Shikaku put a hand on his chin as he thought, and then looked at Shino. "You wouldn't happen to be Shibi Aburame's son, would you?"

Shino nodded. "That is correct."

Shikaku nodded with a grin. "Then please say hello to your father for me, Shino-kun. And you must be Naruto Uzumaki, right?"

The blonde looked surprise, but nonetheless replied. "H-How did you know?"

Instead of humoring the boy any further, Shikaku picked up his son on his shoulders before giving the two boys a grin.

"We'll come back tomorrow, okay?" He told his son and perhaps the two other boys as well before walking away.

Shikamaru waved goodbye and smiled when his two new friends waved back.

**xxOxx**

Days turned into weeks, where the trio of new friends made every effort to see one another in the park every day. In the beginning, all they did was talk, how most kids would.

"I swear! It must have been like..._ this _big!" Naruto explained to his friends as he held his arms as far apart as possible.

"Wow! And it just flew away?" Shikamaru asked in awe.

"Sounds impressive!" Shino commented, his voice holding the tone of wonder.

Yeah like that.

Stories of "bird people" aside, the trio would spend their days at the park looking at clouds (Shikamaru's suggestion), looking for bugs (Shino's favorite) and playing ninja (Naruto's pick). It wasn't until the third week when they began to notice the feathers that seemed to coat the park every now and then.

There were two kinds of them from what the trio could tell. Shino held one in his hand, its ebony color contrasting with his pale hand. The black feather was thicker and was straight at the tip.

Naruto held the other; the complete opposite of the ebony feather that Shino was holding. A silken white in color, light in weight and curved at the end.

What was special about these feathers was the sheer amount the trio found. The park was littered with them, every few feet one or two could be found.

The park was not the only place with these feathers, the trio found out as they began finding them near their respective homes. The discovery had the trio looking at the sky more often and also provoked the habit of collecting the feathers.

"Bird people..." The trio muttered nervously as they looked up at the sky.

**xxOxx**

After a month of and a half since they first met, Shikamaru approached them uneasily. He seemed to be mulling something over in his head for a moment before shrugging it off.

He still looked nervous, however. "H-Hey guys, my mom wants to get to know you guys and... uh... do you guys want to have a sleepover at my house tomorrow night? I-If you don't want to, that's fine too, I guess..." The young Nara mumbled; finding the ground more interesting than before.

"Count me in!" Naruto raised his fist with excitement several seconds after the question was asked.

"I will have to ask, but I'll try my best to be there." Shino reassured his friend with a smile.

"O-Okay...!" Shikamaru laughed slightly as he scratched his head.

The trio laughed together in excitement for the day to come.

**The next day: afternoon**

"Oh calm down, Shika-kun. I'm sure they're already on their way." Yoshino Nara, Shikamaru's mother, reassured her nervous son as she cut several vegetables.

"Maybe... But what if they got lost?" Shikamaru replied, masking his nervous tone with disinterest.

Yoshino smiled. "You worry too much for a five year old, you know that Shika-kun? Instead of worrying, mind helping me make dinner?" Yoshino asked as she stirred the contents of the pot in front of her.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Remember the last time I "helped", mom?" The young Nara questioned his mother, only to get a snort of a laugh as a reply.

"Right, right. Anyways, I think this sleepover is way past overdue, don't you think?" Yoshino smiled as she began to boil water.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I guess so, but weren't _you _the one who wanted to meet them in the first place?" He said sarcastically as he teetered the chair he was sitting on back and forth.

"Now now, Shika-kun. What kind of mother would I be if I didn't know your friends?" Yoshino smiled as she continued to cook without a hitch.

There was a knock on the door, making Shikamaru run towards it.

He came back a second later and said in a serious tone: "Please don't embarrass me, mom." He then ran off again.

Yoshino frowned slightly before she pouted. "Hmmph! I'm a cool mom..." She muttered bitterly.

Shikamaru hurried to the door and opened it, revealing his two friends. "Hey guys. Had trouble finding my house?" Shikamaru asked as he let his friends inside.

"I... I almost got lost, but I saw Shino and I came with him and his dad." Naruto laughed sheepishly as he removed his sandals.

"My father walked me - us over here." Shino corrected himself as he waved at his father outside before closing the door and removed his sandals as well.

"Oh, okay. I'm glad you guys were able to come over." Shikamaru began as he motioned them to follow. "My mom is making dinner in the kitchen and my dad is on a mission right now." He explained as he led them towards his room, sneaking around the kitchen.

"Didn't your mom want to meet us, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked his friend as they ducked behind furniture.

"It would be rude if we do not present ourselves." Shino added.

Shikamaru stopped, sighed and turned around before walking towards the kitchen, where his mother just finished making dinner.

Shikamaru cleared his throat to get her attention. "Mom, my friends are here." He said simply as he motioned to them.

Yoshino spun on her heels quickly with a smile, catching them off guard.

"Um... H-Hello ma'am my name is-" Naruto began but got cut off.

"Naruto, right?" Yoshino kneeled down to be face to face with the blonde boy. She smiled cheerily as she ruffled his already wild hair.

"U-Uh yeah!" Naruto flushed with embarrassment.

Yoshino turned to the young Aburame. "And you must be Shino, correct?" She asked sweetly, ruffled his hair as well.

"...C-Correct..." Shino stammered at the attention.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru was as red as a tomato as he smacked his face with his hand. _'I thought we had a deal mom!' _

Yoshino stood up and clapped her hands together. "Dinner is ready! I hope you three are hungry!"

Naruto shook off his surprise enough to nod his head.

Shino smiled for a second before he composed himself and nodded as well.

Shikamaru sighed.

**xxOxx**

"...and thanks to that simple move, my squad and I managed to defuse a civil war within the Land of Tea!" Yoshino stated as she recalled a mission she had several years back; engrossing the kids into the story.

"Wow! You were such a cool ninja!" Naruto said in awe of the woman before him.

Shino nodded with excitement. "I agree with Naruto."

Yoshino nodded with a proud little smirk. "Yeah... I was, wasn't I?" She chided.

Shikamaru laughed but rolled his eyes. "Don't let it go to your head, mom."

Naruto and Shino had trouble holding back a laugh as Yoshino pinched her son's cheeks as she muttered something about disrespectful children.

Yoshino continued to entertain the trio with stories from when she was a ninja, ranging from her escort missions to her retrieval missions; nothing too violent or the like, just vivid enough to entertain them all while simultaneously feeding her malnourished ego.

"Thank you for the food, ma'am!" Naruto bowed with gratitude, receiving a pat on the head from the older Nara.

"Thank you for the meal, Nara-san." Shino thanked her, earning a pat on the head as well.

Yoshino looked at her son expectantly.

"What?" Shikamaru asked bluntly.

"Shika-kun, you're so mean!" Yoshino scolded her son with fake tears.

**xxOxx**

After dinner, Yoshino began to clean the dishes, but only after she instructed the trio to take a bath and get ready for bed. After all said was done, the trio, now changed into their pajamas, were moved to Shikamaru's room where several futons were taken out as their beds. With a quick "Goodnight!" Yoshino left the trio to rest.

Except the trio couldn't sleep. Each had their own reason to not be able to rest, some the same yet some entirely different. It was about half an hour till Naruto spoke up.

"You guys still awake?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"Your mom is really cool, Shikamaru." Naruto repeated for the umpteenth time that night.

"Don't let her hear you say that, Naruto. Her head is big enough as it is." Shikamaru sighed as he looked out the window in his room.

"Being a ninja sounds really cool, y'know?" Naruto said as he put his hands behind his head.

"I agree. Your mother made it seem extremely satisfying." Shino commented as he stared at the ceiling.

"It would be cool if we became ninja too." Shikamaru offered offhandedly.

"In a team?" Shino added.

"Doing cool missions like your mom?" Naruto pitched in too.

"..."

"..."

"..."

There was a pause in their conversation, letting the silence take over for a moment.

"That would be awesome." The trio answered simultaneously before laughing together.

"Do you guys want to go outside?"

"Wouldn't your mom get angry?" Naruto asked his friend.

"Only if she finds out. Besides, there's something I want to show you guys." Shikamaru opened the window from his room and climbed out, forcing the other two to follow suit.

"What is it that you wanted to show us, Shikamaru?" Shino asked as he and Naruto followed the Nara along the clan grounds towards the forest.

The Nara compound is one of the biggest in the entire village, connecting itself with the forest outside the village walls. Intrusion is not a threat due to the superstition of the "Nara spirits of protection"; roaming beings that protect the land from threats.

"It's right over here, c'mon!" Shikamaru pointed at the forest in front of them.

Through the thick trees, the trio found a clearing - devoid of trees around them. It was at that moment when Naruto and Shino noticed the night sky for the first time that night. Joining the moon, were hundreds of thousands of stars, planets and distant nebulas covering the entire sky.

"Whoa!" Naruto let out a gasp in amazement.

"I'm not sure why, but this is the only place where you get to see all of this. My dad showed me this last year, and now I'm showing you guys. Pretty cool, right?"

The trio took a seat on the floor and stargazed for what seemed like an eternity, until a certain thought - no, a whisper - came to them simultaneously.

"A team..." They all whispered together.

The treetops above them shook as several large beings flew overhead, leaving a trail of white and black feathers to slowly float to the ground.

"They were here!" Naruto raised a finger to the feathers in surprise.

"..."

"..."

The trio ran back to the house as fast as their little legs could carry them.

**One week later**

"He should live around here..." Yoshino explained as she walked both her son and Naruto to the Aburame clan ground. As odd as it were, Shibi Aburame, Shino's father, has wanted to meet his son's friends.

"It makes sense for a parent to want to meet their child's friends." Yoshino explain as she gave Shikamaru permission to attend the sleepover at the Aburame household.

Yoshino already knew of the Aburame as she had served several missions with them and was impressed by their performance. Their social behavior on the other hand...it could use some work in her opinion. Nevertheless, she already knew what to expect and could find trust in an Aburame; so when she knocked on the door of the main house and was met with the clan head, she had to stifle a laugh when her introduction caught the man off guard.

"Greetings, Aburame-san. I am Yoshino Nara, Shikamaru's mother. It is a pleasure to meet you." Yoshino introduced herself as she bowed slightly.

Shibi recoiled a bit but nonetheless bowed back. "Greetings, Nara-san. My apologies for not introducing myself beforehand." Shibi scratched the side of his face. As the adults talked, Shino led his friends inside his home.

"Your house is huge, Shino!" Naruto exclaimed as he and Shikamaru followed their friend to his room.

"Is it?" Shino asked with confusion.

"Yeah, this place is huge!" Shikamaru confirmed as they passed the library.

"I guess I never noticed it before." Shino commented as they entered his room and set their bags down.

Meanwhile with the adults, Yoshino and Shibi were finishing a conversation.

"...so all I did was tell them some stories of my past missions to pass the time. Do that, and you'll be fine." Yoshino explained with an amused grin. When the kids had left to drop off their bags, Shibi approached her with a question as to how she entertained the kids before.

Shibi nodded as he scratched his chin. "I thank you for the advice, Nara-san." He seemed to be pondering on just what missions to choose from.

"In that case, I'll be leaving. Shika-kun! I'm leaving!" Yoshino called out to her son and heard a faint "Yeah, yeah." in return. She pouted as she took her leave.

Once Yoshino had departed, the trio made their way to Shino's father to officially introduce themselves. They found him, ironically, in the kitchen preparing dinner for them. He turned to look at them and kneeled before them in a similar fashion that Yoshino had.

Shikamaru put himself on the spotlight as he bowed slightly. "My name is Nara Shikamaru, nice to meet you sir."

Shibi nodded and patted the Nara's back. "Pleasure meeting you, Shikamaru-kun."

Naruto soon replicated what Shikamaru had done and introduced himself. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" The blonde said quickly, officially introducing himself to the clan head.

"Pleasure in making your official acquaintance, Naruto-kun." Shibi said simply as he patted Naruto's back.

Shibi stood up. "My name is Aburame Shibi, and I must say that my son has quite the luck in making friends like you two." The older Aburame joked slightly at his son's expense, but got a giggle from the two young boys.

"T-Thank you father..." Shino stammered; his cheeks pink from embarrassment.

His father gave a short laugh. "Dinner is almost ready, so please sit down at the dinner table." He motioned them to the room across the kitchen before returning to his cooking duty.

**xxOxx**

The trio had a sense of deja vu during dinner with the Aburame clan head, for their dinner was ignored as they were distracted by a story.

"So what did you do then?!" Naruto asked with worry.

"The shrapnel was in too deep, and removing it would have severed an artery. The enemy was approaching quickly, but the message had to be delivered in order to halt the executions."

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked curiously.

Shibi paused before he looked up at the ceiling for a second. "We got the message across and saved the accused." Shibi answered flatly.

"So the client survived? Did you save him?" Shino asked from his spot on the table.

"In a way, yes. Those accused were his family, after all. His family was able to carry on his ideals of freedom." Shibi recalled.

"So he didn't get a chance see them again?" Naruto asked, slightly getting the picture.

"No he did not. But he made it possible for us to deliver the message in time to save his family."

The trio stayed quiet as they absorbed their first story without a happy ending.

Shibi frowned. "Now boys, the client hired us not to protect _him_, but to save his family. While the mission did not end completely blood free as we had hoped, the task was completed by his own volition. He did not wish to slow our squad down and told us to go on ahead without him. While his family was indeed saddened to hear about his death, they honored his courage." Shibi explained with a small smile.

The trio cheered up and smiled too, a new found moral in their point of view.

After dinner, the trio showered and settled down in Shino's room, all the while thinking about the story they heard earlier.

"When I become a ninja, I'll make sure nobody dies!" Naruto said with confidence as he shook a fist in the air from his position in Shino's room.

"Is that even possible?" Shikamaru asked with wonder.

"There's got to be a way, right?" Naruto asked, slightly less confident than before.

Shino thought for a second. "What is the best way to counter death?"

Naruto closed his eyes in concentration. "I don't know... medicine?"

"Huh. Medicine." Shikamaru stated. "Like a medic?"

"Yeah! Yeah! A medic!" Naruto realized with excitement.

After that realization, silence began to overtake the room before Shikamaru broke it with a question.

"Shino?" He called out to his friend across the room.

"Yes, Shikamaru?"

"Feel free to ignore my question, but where's your mom? I didn't see her today." The young Nara asked with caution.

"..." Naruto stayed quiet.

"My... My mother passed away when I was born." Shino said almost neutrally, but stammered.

"I'm... Sorry about that. I-I uh, didn't know..." Shikamaru gave an awkward apology.

"It is fine, do not worry about it." Shino replied normally.

Minutes passed by awkwardly in the silent room.

Naruto, in an attempt to break the silence, spoke his mind.

"Your dad is really cool, Shino." Naruto reassured his friend.

Shino agreed with a nod. "I know."

The moon was full, shining brightly now.

"Do you think they're there again?" Shikamaru pondered with his eyes closed.

"_Them_?" Naruto asked as he sat up simultaneously with the others to look out the window.

"Only one way to find out." Shino unlocked the window and let it open.

As soon as he did, however, the sound of flapping wings was heard before a large gust of wind knocked the trio away as it closed the window shut. The trio looked surprised, but quickly gathered on the window in time to see dozens of feathers float to the ground.

"Again..." The trio muttered before they climbed out and began to collect the feathers.

**Five days later**

"Ack! What time is it?!" Naruto panicked as he noticed the sun setting in the distance.

"Do you need to be home soon?" Shino asked as he packed up his bugs from the ground.

"K-Kinda..." The blonde blanched.

"..." Shikamaru looked pensive for a moment as the blonde began to walk away, waving goodbye towards them.

"Hey Shino." He called out to his friend. "Naruto doesn't talk about his home, right?"

The Aburame frowned. "No, he does not."

"Our parents wanted to meet each of us, shouldn't his want to do the same?"

"He does not talk about his parents either." Shino added.

"Do you think everything is okay?" Shikamaru frowned.

Just then, the all familiar sound of wings flapping was heard, followed by hundreds of leaves and feathers fell from the tree above.

Taking it as a cue of action, the boys yelled as they ran after Naruto. "Let's go!"

**xxOxx**

_'Where did he go?' _

_'Where does he live?' _

The young boys thought as they ran to who knows where, until they saw something on the ground.

_A feather__._

They approached it and saw another, and another.

A trail!

They followed the trail of feathers across the village until it stopped at a corner of a street. Taking cover behind a closed stand, the boys peered ahead and saw Naruto, hands in his pocket, looking at the ground he sat in.

He was crying.

The sun had set, and the village dimmed a light blue from the moon taking over.

The boys tried to move towards Naruto, but something - someone - kept them still.

"Shino... I can't move..." Shikamaru struggled but he could tell his friend was in the same situation.

'_What's going on?!' _Shikamaru screamed internally.

**xxOxx**

Naruto, unaware that his friends were watching, let the tears stream down his face as he was denied entrance to the orphanage again.

_"What are you doing here, you good-for-nothing brat? I thought I made it clear that I didn't want you back here again!" The "caretaker" of the orphanage snarled as she slammed the door in his face._

_'They kick me out during the day and then get mad at me for trying to come back?' _Naruto thought with anger but soon got watered down by sadness.

"What did I do wrong?" He let out a sob, but caught himself halfway. He tried to calm himself, but could not as his lungs demanded oxygen and the gasp he took denied him the strength to hold back his emotions. He cried for reasons he wasn't sure of.

He was alone.

Just...alone.

The thought came to him often. No family of his own or a home. He thought of his friends, their parents and the sickening feelings he would get around them.

Envy. _'I wish I had parents like they did...'_

Hatred. _'Stop __**gloating**__ about them!'_

_Loneliness_. _'Why not me...?' _

It pained Naruto's chest when his friends would leave after the day was over, for they would go to a loving home and he... he wouldn't... he couldn't.

But Naruto was young, he did not understand his emotions; his fear, his **anger** at the orphanage or the **anger** he felt towards his friends, because they were lucky; so lucky to have a home and a family to call their own.

Yet they didn't **appreciate** it.

"Shikaku-san, Yoshino-san... Shibi-san..." Their friendliness was not lost on him, however, as they managed to expel the pain in his chest when they would smile at him and talked to him as if his existence mattered to someone.

He was lost and alone once the sun begins to set, when he and his friends have to separate.

_'Life is cruel...' _Naruto thought of the line he had heard someone say in the past. He let out a sob once more, instead of trying to contain it anymore.

"Everything will be okay."

"!" Naruto got startled as a voice whispered in his ear from behind. He turned but saw no one.

The words echoed through his head until they escaped from his lips.

"Everything... will be... okay." Naruto repeated out loud slowly, as if he were testing every letter to make sure they would form words he has never spoken yet. The words connected with him, lifting his spirits with every breath he took.

He dried his tears with his hands and felt himself calm down. "Everything will be okay." He repeated one last time as he picked himself off of the ground.

The sound of a door opening nearby broke him out of his reassurance as the men - three drunken men to be precise, stumbled out of the nearby bar and made their way to the blonde.

"...or not." Naruto rolled his eyes as he backed away.

"Th-There he is...! The demon brat...!" One of the men nearly vomited as they approached the boy.

The blonde winced as he could smell the alcohol from his position.

"Get h-him!" The tall bald one yelled as he tumbled over to Naruto. Before he could get ahold of him, however, a rock made its appearance known by striking the side of the man's head, nearly knocking him over. Not from the force of the rock, mind you, but by how intoxicated the man was.

"Leave him alone!" Shikamaru yelled as he tossed another rock. Shikamaru and Shino had been "freed" from whatever had held them down and wasted no time to help their friend.

The man groaned. "That h-hurt!" He growled before pointing at the two kids. "The demon got friends... Get th-them and I'll get this one!" The man slurred.

The other two men, slightly more coordinated than the first, ran at the boys, not giving them enough time to collect more rocks. With nothing to throw, Shikamaru and Shino attempted to get away, but were picked up by the hair and dangled in front of the men's faces as if taunting them.

"Your turn, bastard!" The bald man growled as he picked up Naruto by the neck.

Naruto panicked and did the only thing he could think of.

*crunch!*

"Ah! The bastard bit me!" The man cursed as he held his bleeding finger, releasing the blonde.

Naruto used this time to run towards the men holding his friends and did the same thing to their legs.

*crunch!* "Ah fuck!"

*crunch!* "Shit!"

The two men cursed as they dropped the boys. The trio ran away, trying to hide from the men in an empty alleyway.

"What... What are you guys doing here?!" Naruto gasped out with barely any breath to call his own. He then spat out the foreign blood out if his mouth.

"We came to check... on you... We were worried!" Shikamaru managed to mutter in between breaths.

"We're... not alone..." Shino whispered.

And they were not, as the three men walked towards the alley, two of them walking with difficulty.

"We know you're here brats! Come on out!" They yelled angrily.

"Guys try to find a way out. They're after me, I'll hold them off!" Naruto ordered with determination and fear.

"We won't leave you here, Naruto." Shino shook his head as he gripped a bottle he found on the ground.

"That's right. We're not leaving." Shikamaru added as he gripped a brick.

"...wh-what are you guys doing...?!" The blonde stammered with disbelief.

"We're your friends, Naruto." They said simultaneously as they turned to face him.

The angry men spotted them at the end of the alleyway and began to close in.

"I'd like to see what you can do when you don't have any teeth, demon!" One of them snarled as he brandished a knife and directed it towards them.

Hope seemed lost until a figure fell from above and landed in between the trio and the men.

"Using a knife on children...? What the hell is the matter with you?!" The figure, a man, growled with disgust.

"What's it to you? These bastards attacked us!" The bald man lied as he brandished his own knife as well.

"If you really want to attack someone..." The stranger began before spreading his arms wide "...then come at me!" The stranger taunted.

The men didn't seem to complain as they charged at him.

The stranger laughed as he charged as well, meeting up with them halfway. Using his speed, the stranger delivered a powerful knee to the underside of one of the drunkard's chin, sending him flying. The remaining men attempted to slash the stranger but failed as he caught their hands from their wrists.

"People like you disgust me." The stranger muttered angrily. The stranger kicked one of the men in the leg, causing him to fall on his knees while the other man got head butted.

With one final kick, the stranger smashed the men's heads to the ground, knocking them unconscious.

The stranger turned to the trio and knelt down, checking them for injuries. "Are you kids okay?" He noticed the blood on Naruto's mouth. "Did you get hurt?" He asked as he took out a little red bottle from a pouch.

"I-I'm fine, It isn't my blood..." Naruto whimpered.

The stranger nodded before standing up. "What are you kids doing out here at night? It isn't safe." He looked around, his hands on his waist. "Where do you kids live?"

The trio walked out of the alley and looked around as well. Shikamaru and Shino were unfamiliar with this part of the village; their only lead was the trail of feathers. Their heads were still spinning from the encounter, now they understood the danger they were in just a few moments ago. The adrenaline left their bodies and they felt weak.

The stranger knelt down once again with a small smile. "Everything is okay now, don't worry, nothing is going to happen. I can tell you three don't feel so good, my home is nearby. We can go there until you three get your bearings, okay?"

The trio frowned, not entirely trusting the stranger before them.

"You can trust me, okay?" The stranger said with a kind smile before he ruffled their hair.

The trio looked at each other and gave a weak nod before following him.

The stranger did not lie when he said his home was nearby, as they only walked for about three minutes before they arrived at the front door.

"Home sweet home." The stranger sighed as he opened the door with a key.

"My girlfriend may be asleep so try to be quiet, okay?" The stranger whispered as he walked inside the dark house followed by the trio.

"The switch is somewhere - oof! Around... here..." The stranger muttered as he tried to find the light switch, occasionally bumping into furniture. His hand traced the wall, roaming for the pesky switch.

"Here it is!" He flicked the switch.

"Keima-kun..." An angry woman growled with from the chair next to the light switch.

The stranger, now revealed to go by the name Keima, gave an audible gulp before he flicked the switch once again, making the room go dark.

The room stayed in an uncomfortable silence for several seconds before Keima tried to defuse the situation.

"Rei... calm down... It's not what you think..." Keima warned but got no reply. "R-Rei...?" He asked nervously as he flicked the switch once again.

Rei was now standing directly in front of Keima. Her stare was flat; careful and calculating. She crossed her arms before leaning her head towards his.

"Coming home late... urging somebody to be quiet... Who is she...? Keima-kun?" Her tone was neutral, unnaturally neutral for the words she was saying.

The trio looked at the couple before them and had a sudden urge to help out the stranger that helped them. Tonight was the night that the "bro-code" would be established upon them.

Naruto coughed. "Uh... Excuse me?"

Rei got surprised from the voice. "Oh?" She looked behind Keima and saw the trio of boys. Her eyes softened and her tone took one of a worried mother. "And who are you?"

_'Talk about a complete change.' _The males in the room thought with a roll of their eyes.

"My name is Naruto, and uh..." Naruto pointed at Keima. "...he saved us from trouble..." The blonde explained.

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" She asked, now worried instead of mad.

"Some drunks were attacking these boys when I was on my way here. They were cornered in an alleyway, I had to help." Keima explained as he began to relax. He threw the blonde some thankful glances as well.

"Did you get hurt?" Rei asked the boys and relaxed when they shook their heads. She then turned to her boyfriend. "Did _you _get hurt?"

Keima smirked. "As if." He said smugly.

Rei rolled her eyes but approached the trio. "Do your parents know you are out this late?"

The realization hit Shikamaru hard. "My mom is going to kill me!" He groaned as he slapped his forehead.

Shino shook his head, but showed a different beetle on his fingertip. "My father is probably already on his way here. Perhaps he'll inform your mother, Shikamaru."

Naruto looked at the floor. "Well, I don't have to worry about that! I... I don't have any parents..." This surprised both Keima and Rei. "I live in the orphanage nearby, but they... kicked me out."

"Kicked you out?" The couple asked together. "Why?"

Shikamaru and Shino were also curious.

Naruto gave them a shrug in return, as it was a question he had asked himself plenty of times before.

"I... I don't know. They do it every day and only let me back in if they feel like it... They haven't "felt" like it in two weeks..." Naruto shook as he tried to keep himself stable. After taking a breath, he smiled.

"But it's okay. I think I've been doing... well on my... own." He held back the feeling of letting go, but his eyes showed the pain.

Keima bit his lip.

Rei looked troubled.

His friends were a combination of angry and sad.

"A-Anyways... Can I get something to drink please? I'm a little bit thirsty." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he laughed, shaking everyone from their stupor.

"O-Of course! Let me get you a glass of water for you!" Rei shook herself as she hurried to the kitchen.

"I'll go try to find your parents. Aburame and Nara, right?" Keima asked the boys, who then nodded. "I'll explain everything so you won't get in trouble." He smiled before running off.

The trio was alone now.

"Are you guys stupid?!" Naruto asked.

"What are you talking about Naruto?" Shikamaru was confused.

"Why... Why didn't you guys run away...? Why did you guys stay...?"

"Why would we run away?" Shino countered.

"You're our friend. Our best friend. We wouldn't just leave you there." Shikamaru stated with a grin.

"...Do... Do you guys mean it?" The blonde asked in disbelief.

"Of course we mean it." They replied simultaneously.

**xxOxx**

"Thank you so much! Oh, Shika-kun you had me so worried!" Yoshino cried as she hugged her son. "Thank you... what was your name again?" Yoshino asked the man that informed her of her son's whereabouts.

"I'm Keima Kizaki - oof!"

"And my name is Rei Isigro, his girlfriend." Rei cut in, claiming her property, per se.

Yoshino smiled nervously as she stepped back some. She understood though, as she could easily recall the... possessive... phase she had on her husband several years ago.

_'She'll get over it soon.' _Yoshino thought with a smile.

That smile disappeared when Rei ruffled Shikamaru's hair and said: "You behave now, okay _Shika-kun_?"

The smile turned into an all-out snarl when Shikamaru replied.

"Yes ma'am!" Shikamaru replied with a laugh.

Yoshino narrowed her eyes on the woman and took Shikamaru in her arms defensively. "Now Shika-kun, best come with your mother, okay honey?"

"Mom? What are you - oof!" Yoshino cut her son off with a tight hug. "S-See you guys later!" Shikamaru waved at his friends as he was dragged away.

"...eh..." Rei laughed nervously.

"Thank you, Kizaki-san for taking care of my son. Hopefully we will meet again under better circumstances." Shibi bowed in appreciation.

"Don't mention it, Aburame-san. I was glad to help." Keima bowed back.

Shibi looked at his son then at Naruto. "Will you be okay, Naruto-kun? Would you like to come with us tonight?"

Naruto was about to say "Yes!" but was stopped by a whisper, the same one as before, telling him to say no. He didn't know why, but he listened to it.

"Thank you, Shibi-san, but I think I'll be fine for tonight." Naruto bowed with respect and saw Shino nod at him.

_'Did Shino hear the same thing?' _Naruto thought with a surprise as he waved goodbye.

Naruto turned and saw Keima speaking with Rei about something until they stopped suddenly. Naruto recognized the signs and immediately scanned the skies for "bird people" but was too late as a plethora of feathers rained down from above.

The couple stayed quiet for several seconds before they turned around to face the blonde. They both smiled.

"Naruto-kun... Would you like to stay with us?" Rei asked hopefully.

"How about it, Naruto?" Keima added.

Naruto was surprised and yet had a feeling that same whisper had spoken to the couple before him, but was that a bad thing?

The "bird people" had always been there with him and his friends, and nothing bad happened yet. In fact, they were there when something good happened like at the park and the sleepovers as well. Naruto didn't know and didn't understand what was going on or what was going to happen, but so far everything involving the "bird people" had been a good thing.

"What do you say?"

Why not now?

"S-Sure!"

**Prologue End**

**A/N: Hello there! TheRedGhillie (finally) here with a new story up and running! **

**For those of you who have kept up with me, I know what you must be thinking:**

**"A **_**new**_** story?! What about the other two?!"**

**Well, you see... About a year ago, my computer had its memory wiped, deleting all of my files and chapters I had done. When that happened, I lost my will to write for Oblivious entirely. For those that are fans of Oblivious, I'm sorry but there will be no update for a while, and I apologize for that.**

**For those who are new, thank you for reading my story! More updates are coming I promise! **

**Please leave a review and tell me what you think!**

**Before I go, I'm going to explain some things, okay?**

**Okay.**

**As the name suggests, this story will have plenty to do with Heaven and Hell in some ways that you may or may not expect. This story will have a lot to do with the following topics: **

**The supernatural.**

**Angels and Demons.**

**Kami and Maou (Devil King)**

**One thing to know, the team - Naruto, Shikamaru and Shino - will ****NOT**** be godlike. They will train and be strong, but they will get their butts kicked from time to time. **

**This story will be somewhat canon, meaning that some events will be present from the manga/anime. **

**While some parts may be canon, ****A LOT**** won't be. I'm trying for something totally new in the world of Naruto and I hope you guys and gals enjoy it.**

**There will be ****at least**** two (2) time skips in the next two chapters. Next chapter there will be a six (6) year time skip, making the trio eleven (11).**

**Maybe you guys noticed that I blatantly ignored describing characters. Like I said above, there will be a fairly large time skip (6 years), nobody stays the same for six years so I didn't see the point. In the next chapter I'll describe everyone.**

**Okay here's the bombshell:**

**Naruto's OC parents: Keima Kizaki and Rei Isigro. **

**I did consider getting canon characters to adopt Naruto, but I felt that these characters would benefit the story the most. For those of you that do not enjoy OC's, while they may not seem to be a big factor in the beginning, they will become key figures later on, so hopefully you will get used to them with time. I will do my very best to flesh them out as much as possible.**

**Thank you for reading and as always, have a good day.**

**-TheRedGhillie**

**Words: 7,152**

**Date Published: 4/11/14**


	2. Instructions

**Team Aeternum**

**Chapter 2: Instructions**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Unbelievable.

Astronomy was a foreign concept in Konoha; I mean, does it _really _matter where the planets are aligned? Not really. But, it _is_ conceived that the sun is really, _really_, _really_ far away with plenty of obstacles in its way such as other planets, asteroids, rocks, etc. Not to mention the clouds, trees and buildings here on earth.

Despite all of those obstacles, the sun managed to bypass them all and somehow was able to score a ray of sunlight directly over the Nara's eyes as he slept in his room.

"Unbelievable." Shikamaru groaned as he sat up, not entirely satisfied with the way his sleep had ended. He groggily walked over to the window and closed the shades. With a yawn, he stumbled back into bed, burrowing his head into his pillow.

He smirked as he was just about to go back to sleep. His eyes were _this_ close to shutting when his door flew open.

"Shikamaru!" It's time to wake up!" Yoshino Nara, Shikamaru's beloved mother, stormed in her son's room as loud as possible.

"Ugh, leave me alone mom." He moaned as he put a pillow over his head in an attempt to escape.

"Just like your father…" Yoshino grumbled before she removed the pillow from her son's face. "Today is a big day, baka! You're starting your first day in the Academy with Naruto-kun and Shino-kun, remember?" Shikamaru had no time to get a word in edgewise as his mother grabbed him from the shoulders and began to shake him back and forth.

Ah, yes. Today marks the first day of their generation's admittance into the ninja academy, where they will learn the fundamentals of being a ninja for the next six years.

Fun.

Nonetheless, Shikamaru opened his eyes and stopped his mother from giving him whiplash. "Fine, fine! I'm up! I'm up!"

"You should hurry up, Shikamaru. You're meeting up with Naruto-kun and Shino-kun before the start of class." Yoshino smiled victoriously before leaving her son's room.

He bristled. "I wonder if _their_ mornings are as bad as mine…" The eleven year old sighed before getting ready for the day ahead.

**xxOxx**

"Tch."

There were very few things that could bother an Aburame. Pesticides aside, getting their sleep disrupted had to be number one. Despite the major annoyance the sun could bring at such an early hour of the day, it was there for a reason.

Unfortunately.

Shino contemplated whether or not to just don his sunglasses while he slept to bypass the almighty ray of sunlight that somehow managed to land right where his eyes were. With a groan, he decided against the idea and rose from his bed, popping his joints.

There was a knock on his door.

"Honorable heir, have you awakened?" A servant of the clan asked from the other end of the door. "I need not remind you of what today embarks, honorable heir."

"I am awake and fully aware of what today is. Thank you." Shino rubbed his eyes.

"We await your presence, honorable heir." The servant dismissed herself.

_'The academy.'_ Shino processed the events from the day before; the news that they (Naruto, Shikamaru and himself) had been accepted into the academy. The three families (Aburame, Kizaki and Nara) held a celebration together that did not end until the twilight hours.

Shino yawned slightly before sporting his sunglasses. "Should be of no concern." He said out loud.

The Aburame was not being cocky, nor was he full of himself, but was instead confident in his abilities so far. For the past five years, he and his friends had been placed in a training regimen by the three families once the trio had spoken of their desires in becoming ninja.

The Nara clan was in charge of training the trio with chakra manipulation while the Aburame clan trained them in taijutsu, katas, and stances. The Kizaki family, surprising both clans, was very adept with physical conditioning such as strength, stamina, speed and flexibility.

They were more than ready, in Shino's opinion.

The Aburame got dressed and left his room.

_'It begins.'_

**xxOxx**

The sunlight was nice and bright as it snuck in from in between the shades. The ray of sunlight began to trace the bed, slowly moving upwards to the head of the bed before stopping where a pair of closed eyes would normally be, but instead was clear. The ray of sunlight almost seemed to be scanning the pillow before giving up.

No sunlight would be disrupting sleep in this household this morning. Why, you may ask? Simple really.

The members of this household have been awake since before the sun rose.

"Come on, Naruto! We need to clear these trees if we want to have the mine setup by next week!" Keima Kizaki, the man who adopted Naruto Uzumaki, called out to his son as he lifted a fairly large tree trunk and began to pile it with the others.

Keima Kizaki was young, his age being 24 years old. Years of physical labor in the sun gave Keima a surprising amount of upper body strength and a light brown tan. Standing at five feet nine inches, Keima was fairly tall for his age. His eyes and hair shared the same color; both being a dark brown, with his hair tied into a ponytail that reached his shoulders. As for his facial features, he had sleek narrow eyes, a smooth face save for the scar that runs over his right eye down to his cheek and the stubble he has around his jawline.

A true working man, Keima lives by the craft. Whether the craft are mining, fishing, hunting, blacksmithing or woodwork, Keima had proficiency for it. His biggest talent lies in alchemy, however. Using ingredients found in the wild – mushrooms, plants, bugs, etc. etc. –, Keima is a master in crafting potions and toxins for both local uses and combat needs.

The task at hand was simple enough; clear the trees on the newly acquired land to make way for home improvements and a mine underground for ores and gems. The trees will be used to not only upgrade the Kizaki home in size, but will also be used to make new furniture.

With Keima carrying the fallen trees off of the ground and placing them in piles, it was up to his wife Rei and his son Naruto to bring them down.

Keima's wife, Rei Kizaki (originally Rei Isigro) was older than her husband; her age being a comfy 27. Years of a regal lifestyle had graced Rei with stunning untarnished looks, poise and an aura of nobility. Despite what her appearance may hint at, she is no damsel in distress. Carrying devastating strength and near surgical precision in her strikes has caught many a foe off guard and in an early grave.

Rei not only had killer strength, but killer looks as well. Having luscious black hair that reached her waist in a smooth ponytail blended well with her thin – but built – structure. Her height was average at five feet five inches. Her eyes were a deep black, an extreme contrast to her white pale skin tone. Her eyes were full, yet regal like, her nose was sharp and her lips were a natural shade of pink. Her only bad quality (in her own opinion) was her lackluster chest size, a size B-cup.

Coming from a regal background, unlike Keima, Rei carries the polar opposite hobbies of that of her husband's. As she likes to read, drink tea and garden opposed to his hobbies of pranking, hunting/mining/fishing/etc. and manual labor. Rei would normally oppose manual labor such as "cutting" down trees; saying that it is a Neanderthal's job, but her husband asked her in the _sweetest_ way possible.

_"Rei-chan~ can I ask you for a favor?"_

_"What is it, dear?"_

_"C-Could you help Naruto-kun and I clear the trees off of the land for the mine?"_

_"Preposterous! As if I would degrade… myself… to… K-Keima! D-Don't give me that look, b-baka!"_

_*whimper*_

_"Aww… argh… f-fine, fine! I'll help you! B-But only because you look so p-pathetic when you whimper like that!"_

Seems her husband found a way to control her. She'll have to fix that later.

Anyhow, Rei had a vastly easier time in falling the trees due to her strength. Using open-palmed strikes, Rei is able to take down foe and foliage alike using her clan's taijutsu style.

"Keima-kun~ you owe me for this!" Said Rei with an ironic sweetness as she downed another tree with her strikes.

Keima pretended not to hear her.

Naruto, on the other hand, did not possess his parent's strength, _yet_, and had to rely on an old axe to cut down trees. The axe was heavy, but nothing the blonde couldn't handle thanks to the intense physical training his family put him and his friends throughout the past five years. Thanks to the chakra manipulation training he received from the Nara clan, Naruto was able to channel chakra into his arms to slightly get more strength in his swings.

Getting to that level of chakra manipulation was no easy feat due to Naruto's unnaturally large chakra pool. His friends were way above him in the aspect of chakra manipulation, but as far as he was concerned, this level was acceptable for the time being.

He _is_ only eleven, after all.

The sun had gotten bright when his mother called out to the blonde.

"Naruto-kun, go get ready! Today is the big day, remember?"

Naruto smiled with excitement as he swung the axe with more vigor.

"Okay mom! On…*thunk*…my…*thunk*…way…*thunk*!" Naruto chopped at the base of a tree rapidly before it collapsed.

His excitement was justified, for today was no other regular day. It was the day. The day he and his friends were going to start their ninja lives! Naruto embedded the axe on the new stump and made a dash to the house so he could get ready.

**xxOxx**

The trio, now accompanied by their respective fathers, all met in front of the academy several minutes before the opening ceremony began. The three fathers looked at one another before talking to their respective sons.

"Have a good day in the academy Naruto, show 'em what you got! I'll see you soon."

"All right, Shikamaru. Make your mom and me proud. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Good luck Shino, I will see you soon."

The boys nodded before entering the academy through the front doors.

**xxOxx**

After half an hour welcoming from the third Hokage, the students were all dismissed to their respective classes. Fortunately, the trio happened to have their class with one another. Moving quickly, they managed to snag three seats in the back.

Looking around the class, the trio found people they knew.

"Look, Kiba made it." Naruto mentioned to his friends as the Inuzuka walked in the room with a puppy on his head.

"So did Ino and Chouji." Shikamaru pointed towards the front of the class as they walked in.

"Hinata and Sasuke have arrived as well." Shino informed them.

Sasuke Uchiha, sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre, walked towards the trio, gave a curt nod and sat down in front of them. The trio had talked with the Uchiha regularly in the past and with the help from their parents, the trio managed to change Sasuke's plan for vengeance and instead changed it into a goal for information as to why his brother did what he did.

He still wanted to be a lone wolf, however.

Two men walked in, the instructors probably, and introduced themselves, signaling the start of the class.

**Later that day**

"That…"

"…had…"

"…nothing…"

"…to do with being a ninja!" The trio groaned as their first day at the academy was over.

"History…?" Naruto muttered bitterly.

"Chakra information…?" Shikamaru groaned.

"Mathematics…?" Shino bristled.

"Now, now boys. It was your first day. Surely it'll get better soon." Yoshino laughed as she and Rei took the boys out to eat once they were released from the academy. "Don't you think so, Rei?"

Rei shook her head. "I agree with them. They could be learning more practical subjects."

Yoshino rolled her eyes. "You're not from around here, right Rei-chan? What did you learn in order to become a ninja?" The older woman commented, going as far as teasing Rei with the nickname only Keima has permission to say.

Rei's eyes twitched, but she kept her calm. "I was born far, far west from here like Keima-kun. We came from two rival clans, the Kizaki and the Isigro. All we had to know in order to become a ninja was to either kill or be killed; any other subject was to be learned from the clan itself." Rei explained without missing a beat.

"You and Keima came from rival clans? How did you two even get together then?" Yoshino was surprised.

"That's another story for another day, Yoshino." Rei commented before ordering dumplings from the stand they visited.

**xxOxx**

**Several weeks later**

"…and that about does it for the history on the Land of Tea. Any questions?" Iruka, one of the teachers of the class, asked.

Iruka looked around the class and sighed when he saw the usual three sleeping in the back of the class. Before he could scream at them, however, someone knocked on the door before entering. The woman who entered walked towards Iruka and whispered something into his ear, surprising him.

"Really? Well then…" Iruka began as he snapped a piece of chalk into three pieces before launching them. "Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto!" He called out as soon as the pieces collided with their foreheads, waking them up.

"You three will report with Uzuki-san immediately!"

The class looked confused, but not as much as the trio did.

"What?"

**xxOxx**

"Excuse me, Uzuki-san? Who are you and where are we going?" Shikamaru asked the woman before him.

She stopped walking and turned to face them. "My name is Yugao Uzuki and for reasons unbeknownst to me, I was chosen to take you three as my students. As to where we are going, I was asked to meet my partner, your second sensei, in a location outside the village."

The trio looked confused.

Yugao Uzuki, once a proud and formidable ANBU black ops member – now relieved of that duty due to an injury – stood before the trio with the help of a crutch. The crutch was held in her left hand to help balance her injured left leg. With long purple hair and stunning brown eyes, her appearance made for a pretty sight.

At the moment, Yugao was wearing a black sleeveless vest that exposed her shoulders, black combat pants with matching combat boots. On her right shoulder she dons the ANBU signature tattoo.

If it hadn't been for the etiquette taught to Naruto by both clans, he would have immediately asked what happened to her leg. The blonde, thankfully, did not ask; something she was grateful for.

"Let's get going, shall we?" The boys followed her once again.

Despite the crutch, Yugao managed to walk fairly quickly, surprising the boys behind her. From the academy, the group walked across the village towards the large gates that lead to the outside. After crossing the gates, the trio followed Yugao through the thick foliage away from the main road.

"This is perfect!" Naruto exclaimed as he pulled out several pouches and began collecting the various plants, berries, fungi and insects nearby.

Yugao raised an eyebrow at his antics while Shikamaru and Shino understood why their friend was doing this. After a year or so after Naruto was adopted, Keima had begun to teach him the craft that is alchemy.

The last time Shikamaru and Shino had seen Naruto's progress with alchemy was about two weeks ago when he accidentally paralyzed his father for about six hours.

Progress was good.

After filling up the many pouches he came with, Naruto smiled and rejoined the group. After five more minutes of walking through the forest, they reached a large circular clearing. The large circle was devoid of any trees – save for a large one in the center, - weeds and plants; nothing but short even grass. Nearby, one could hear the river towards the edge of the clearing as the water hit the stones lining the shore that connected with the clearing.

The trio was surprised to say the least.

"What is this place?" Shikamaru asked Yugao.

"I think this is our training ground."

"So you're not sure?" Naruto coughed as he looked around.

"It's not that I'm not sure, just that I have not heard of this training ground before." Their sensei explained before making her way to the tree in the center and sat down. Her students followed and sat down before her.

"Since we're here, why don't we introduce ourselves?" She suggested.

"You should go first sensei." Shino replied, to which the other two nodded.

Yugao gave an awkward smile. "Me? Okay, my name is Yugao Uzuki – you may remember that from before. I like swords, the color black and the nighttime. Someone else's turn."

She pointed at Naruto. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like my friends, the color orange, being with my parents and alchemy. Oh! I also like to garden." The blonde then pointed to Shino.

Shino nodded. "Very well, my name is Shino Aburame. I am fond of my friends, bugs, sweets and reading. I do not have a favorite color, but I prefer warm ones."

"I guess that leaves me then, huh? My name is Shikamaru Nara. I like spending time with my friends, looking at clouds, sleeping, relaxing and learning new things."

Taking at as a cue, Yugao cleared her throat. "Nice to meet you three, but I am sure you have some questions – "

"What are we doing here?"

"Why us?"

"What's going on?"

The trio asked simultaneously, cutting her off. She smiled nonetheless.

"I know just as much as you do."

The trio sweat dropped.

"All I do know is that I am just one of your two teachers. I do not know why I got chosen, so I'm not sure as to what is going on here." Yugao took it upon herself to look a little coy in admitting that.

"So, we just wait?"

"Yep."

**xxOxx**

About two hours later, there was still no sign of the other sensei so the group took liberty in this free time to do whatever they wanted. Shikamaru laid down on the grass to look at the clouds, Shino was near the edge of the clearing looking for new insects and Naruto decided to sit down next to Yugao and show her his father's alchemy manual, where he put every possible effect an ingredient can have.

It was at that moment that the blonde decided that he liked his first sensei. She was nice enough to listen and patient enough to bear with him.

_'I wonder who the other sensei is.'_

**Meanwhile in the area nearby**

"So today's the day you talked about all those years ago." Shikaku Nara was the first amongst the group to speak up.

Shibi Aburame and Keima Kizaki turned to face the new man that made his appearance.

"It's best if I start early, you know?" The man grinned as he placed a hand on his chin.

"Do you think they are ready?" Shibi asked him.

He closed his eyes and nodded. "You did accomplish what I asked, correct? They have already begun their basics with chakra molding, right?"

Shikaku and Shibi nodded.

"Then they're ready."

Keima raised his hands in front of him. "Hold up. I was told a short explanation of this. I want a clear answer. What is going on here, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya, member of the Legendary Sannin, nodded. "All right, Keima. Let me tell you the story."

"Let me hear it."

"Eleven years ago, Konoha was attacked by the nine tailed fox known as the Kyuubi. Eleven years ago, I was not present in the village when it was being attacked and by the time I had found out I was several minutes too late. I wasn't fast enough…"

An uncomfortable silence filled the space around them.

"…My student and Hokage at the time, Minato had already sealed Kyuubi at the cost of his own life. As you probably already know Keima, the only way he could have sealed such a beast was to use an infant…"

Keima sighed. "…Naruto."

Jiraiya nodded. "With the Kyuubi sealed away into his son, the village was saved, but at the cost of the Yondaime. I was moments too late and saw him pass away in front of me. In his dying breaths, Minato managed to tell me about the threat known as the Masked Man; the one responsible for the attack. He asked me to teach and protect his son in case the Masked Man was to return. I agreed and promised him that I would teach his son in the future."

He paused; letting it sink in to the others.

"So all of this was _planned_? Jiraiya, you saved Rei and I eight years ago and told us to come to Konoha, was that all because of that promise? What about their friendship? All planned?" Keima sent a barrage of questions, getting more irritated.

"It was pure coincidence that you met Naruto and an even bigger one that you and Rei adopted him. In all honesty, there isn't anybody more qualified to be his parents." Jiraiya explained while simultaneously cooling Keima.

"…So it was all…fate?"

"Some of it was. A year after the promise was made; I talked to Shikaku and Shibi here to form an alliance, so to speak. The plan was for them to simply train Naruto in the basics and in return I would train their sons alongside Naruto. But things didn't go as planned seeing as he not only got an extra father figure, but also became a part of the family to both clans." Jiraiya smiled at the Aburame and Nara.

"What can I say? Naruto rooted himself firmly within my clan. Everybody loves him there." Shikaku chuckled.

Shibi nodded. "He is quite charismatic."

"In the end…" Jiraiya began "…it works out better this way. If everything goes as planned then we'll be ready for any threat."

Keima narrowed his eyes. "So you're going to make them some sort of super soldiers? What will become of them then?"

Jiraiya walked towards Keima and placed his hand on Keima's shoulder. "I am not training them to become killing machines, Keima. Don't worry about that."

"Then what are you training them to become?"

Jiraiya smirked. "Legendary."

**xxOxx**

"How much longer do we have to wait, Yugao-sensei?" Naruto asked as he finished his set of push-ups.

Yugao had made the trio do exercise while they waited to pass the time. Truth be told, she was surprised by their stamina, particularly Naruto's. The blonde had more stamina than she had ever seen anybody his age possess.

Yugao was getting impatient, however.

What kind of ninja arrives late to a meeting?

_'Kakashi-senpai, actually.' _Yugao thought with a pensive look. She stopped herself from laughing.

Kakashi?

_With a team?_

Hilarious.

"I'm not sure, maybe a little longer." Yugao tried to reassure the trio, but found it difficult to belief herself.

She decided she did not like this other sensei.

As if by cue, there was a faint rustling on the trees before something landed before the group.

"A toad?" The group asked in unison. They then noticed man on top of said toad.

"Preeeesenting, the one, the only, legendary sage of Mount Myōboku, Jiraiya!" The man chanted as he did a strange dance on top of the toad's head, finishing with a flashy pose.

The group was stunned beyond words.

"I see that my fame is still present, but do not let your doubts get the best of you for this is not a mistake! I am the real Jiraiya!"

"J-Jiraiya of the Sannin…? W-What are you doing here?!"

Jiraiya chuckled at Yugao's disbelief before smiling lecherously. "My, my… You must be Yugao-chan, eh? If looks could kill, why, you'd be the best assassin there is!" Jiraiya closed the distance between them in less than a second, winking at her.

"W-What are you…?"

"I am here for the simple reason of being your teacher…" He pointed to the trio "…and your partner in training these kids." He finished with a grin pointed towards Yugao.

"W…What?"

"Obviously, you four are still in shock from meeting me. I'll say it slowly this time: I, Jiraiya, will be your sensei, kids. And I, Jiraiya, will be your partner in this, Yugao-chan. Understood?"

Their jaws were still dropped.

"Good! Let's begin, shall we?"

"W-What?!"

**Seven hours later…**

The sky had begun to turn orange as the sun set, and by that time, the trio had already collapsed on the floor from exhaustion. The training session was intense and unrelenting.

"That, my students, is chakra exhaustion; sort of an empty feeling, right? Anyway, this is what a majority of our training is going to consist of, so get used to it! Training your chakra reserves along with your chakra control is the key to being a successful ninja." Jiraiya explained as he drank sake from a cup. "Any questions?"

Yugao, now looking after the boys – making sure they were okay – spoke up. "I do. Why did you choose these kids? Why did you choose me?" She asked as her hand was on Shino's forehead. Her question was overdue considering her injury. The boys seemed to agree with her.

The older man nodded curtly, turning business-like. "That question is worthwhile an answer, sure." He cleared his throat.

"I chose you three…" He pointed to the trio on the ground. "…because out of all the potential pupils the village has, only you three exhibited the most crucial factor that makes a team; a bond. Having grown up together, you three possess a strong bond of friendship and trust, both of which can be the deciding factor in a life-or-death situation."

"That… That means you've checked on us before…" Naruto panted from the ground next to Shikamaru.

"Of course I did. I would never choose my students without having proper knowledge of who they were."

"Then how did you get that information, Jiraiya-sama?" Yugao asked.

"I have my methods. I have spoken to your parents about this three years ago, and each of them agreed to you three being my students."

"Then what about me? Why did you choose me?" Jiraiya smiled at Yugao's question.

"I chose you because I needed someone who was not only a pretty face, but someone who knew what they were doing. You were the most qualified person for this team."

"Surely you must have known about my injury, Jiraiya-sama." She sounded crossed. "I'm not part of the ANBU anymore. This feels like I'm being mocked! There is no reason as to why I would get chosen-"

"I chose you because I _knew_, despite your injury; you were not ready to just retire your life of being a ninja. You were a proud ANBU and a good one at that. I refuse to believe that a simple injury, no matter how crippling it was to you, would ever make you give up your career." Jiraiya's voice was stern and solid, not allowing for a single word in edgewise.

Yugao stayed quiet at the praise and knew that he was correct. She was not ready to give up anytime soon.

"This team, all of us, will be the best damn team there is. Got it?"

The group nodded.

Jiraiya smiled. "Then get up you three. Tomorrow we meet at six in the morning." He then vanished in a swirl of leaves.

**xxOxx**

The trio's training schedule for the next month and a half looked like so:

Starting early at six in the morning, their training began with cardio (running, climbing trees, etc.) for two hours. Already having some conditioning thanks to Keima, the trio did well in this section.

After the cardio, the trio was subjected to about four hours of physical training (push-ups, crunches, and the like). While tiring, the trio felt fine until they went against the final installment of their training regimen: chakra molding.

More frustration than actual training, the last part of their training lasted until sunset, where they would channel their chakra throughout their body to increase their control. The trio struggled in this last part for two different reasons.

On one hand, Shikamaru and Shino shared the problem of their somewhat smaller chakra pools. While they were able to channel their chakra more effectively, they ran short within several hours and had to wait for their chakra to restore itself. That was where their frustration came from.

In Naruto's case, the blonde had the exact opposite problems that his friends had. His larger-than-average chakra pool allowed Naruto to go for about three times longer than what his friends could and had a fairly short chakra regeneration rate. With such a big chakra reserve, consequences came along as well.

Trying to channel such a huge chakra pool proved to be a huge problem for the blonde, as he progressed almost twice as slowly as his friends. Not being that entirely patient to begin with, Naruto detested the slow progress.

As the weeks passed by, both Jiraiya and Yugao noticed the rate of progress. Something had to be done.

Luckily for the trio, Jiraiya had something planned.

**xxOxx**

Before the trio began their chakra control exercises one day, Jiraiya appeared before them.

"Okay you three; before you begin I have one question. In regards to the chakra control training, what problem is it that you possess?"

The trio looked at one another. "Shikamaru and I have a small chakra reserve that makes chakra control easier but hinders our progress in the long-run. Naruto has a larger chakra reserve than we do, allowing him to last longer than we do but hinders his progress in chakra control." Shino answered.

Their teacher nodded. "Right. Due to those complications progress has been on a crawl, which isn't a big problem in itself, but having you three in different levels of chakra control could get hectic later on." He explained. "To fix those problems, I present you with these!" Jiraiya held three slips of paper, each with different symbols on them.

"What…are they?" Naruto asked as he inspected them.

"These babies took me about a decade to perfect and they should help you three with your problems. I'll give a simple explanation so listen up…" Jiraiya began.

Using a fūinjutsu formula Jiraiya created and mastered ten years ago, he was able to create the first chakra reserve fusion seal in history. The seal – which is on the slips of paper – fuses the chakra reserves of those wielding the seal on their bodies, systematically rewiring and redirecting their chakra channels towards the center of those present. Since there were three seals in Jiraiya's hand, the three people who had this seal inscribed onto their bodies would merge their chakra pools together whenever they were within one hundred feet of one another. In return, those with the seals inscribed within them would have their chakra control equalized and would from then on share the same amount of chakra control as the others.

For example, if Shino were to spend the entire day practicing his chakra control both Naruto and Shikamaru would gain an entire day's worth of chakra control as well. To go even further, if Shikamaru were to join Shino in practicing chakra control, the effect is doubled meaning Naruto would also gain two days' worth of chakra control even if he did not do anything of the like. The benefits of these seals were extraordinarily beneficial, but the risk was great too. Jiraiya kept the risk out of his explanation.

"…understood?" Jiraiya asked as he finished.

For the benefit of Jiraiya's patience and the pacing of this chapter, the trio nodded before lining up in front of their sensei.

"Alright Shino, raise your shirt up so I can apply the seal." The Aburame nodded before slowly removing his coat and shirt. "Now, this is going to hurt, are you ready?"

Before Shino could even respond, Jiraiya slapped the paper on his stomach with a chakra embedded palm, transferring the seal onto Shino's stomach. He let out a gasp of pain before he fell to his knees then on his stomach. The newly placed seal began to glow a bright blue before it spread throughout his body then faded away. Pain was not close to being an accurate description as his chakra channels felt like they caught aflame.

Yugao flipped the young Aburame on his back and tended to him, a concerned frown adorned her face.

"Jiraiya-sama are you sure this is safe?"

The older ninja simply waved her off. "Your turn, Shikamaru." The Nara nodded gravely.

Shikamaru inhaled and prepared himself before Jiraiya performed the same procedure he had done with Shino. Shikamaru gasped out in pain as the seal transferred on to his body. Shikamaru's legs gave out, causing him to fall straight on his back. Yugao carried him before placing the unconscious boy next to his friend.

"Jiraiya-sama please stop this-"

"Yugao. Enough already." Jiraiya scolded his partner.

Naruto looked nervous but nonetheless removed his shirt like his friends did.

"Naruto, channel your chakra for me." Jiraiya ordered as he held the blonde's shirt for him.

"O-Okay…?"

Several minutes later of Naruto focusing, Jiraiya was able to see a big seal form in the middle of the blonde's stomach.

Yugao blanched. "Is that for the fox?" She whispered but got no response.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed in concentration before his fingertips took on a blue hue. "Brace yourself, kid." He warned, before he struck the seal in several locations quickly before slapping the new seal over the older one.

"Agh!" Naruto screamed as he flew several yards behind him, landing several feet in front of his unconscious friends.

The trio's new seals began to radiate a very bright blue before the trio began to convulse violently.

"Jiraiya what did you do?!" Yugao yelled at her superior as she ran towards the boys, only to get stopped by Jiraiya.

"Just watch!"

After several seconds, the trio stopped convulsing before several tomoes began to form on their newly formed seal arrays; dark blue comma shaped figures on Shikamaru and Shino's and dark red comma shaped figures on Naruto's. Suddenly, the trio was covered from head to toe in a blue cloak made of chakra before it began to dissipate towards the area in-between the three boys. A sphere began to form as more and more chakra was collected from the trio, getting bigger and bigger in size and radius until it covered the boys and anything one-hundred feet around them. For the first several minutes, the sphere of chakra was a solid light blue, not allowing for the contents inside the sphere to be seen, but after a while, the sphere began to become lighter in color until it seemingly disappeared; revealing the trio once again.

"What just happened Jiraiya-sama?" Yugao asked before trying to move towards the boys, only to get stopped once again.

"It's not over yet."

Yugao looked at the boys again and stepped back.

From Naruto's seal array, a dark, blood colored energy began to pour out profusely before it gathered above the trio in a sphere – much like the blue chakra before it did. The sphere was massive for several minutes before it began to compact itself, becoming smaller and more dense. When the sphere became the size of a tennis ball it split into three different spheres –each the same size of the original – before they were each individually absorbed by the trios' seal arrays – one for each of the boys. Afterwards came an extremely large gust of wind that came from the location the trio was in, knocking the two older ninja back.

Then it became quiet.

Jiraiya and Yugao rushed towards the boys and were relieved to have found them breathing. Jiraiya laughed before placing a hand on his partner's shoulder. Yugao fought hard not to smile, but did so in the end.

"It is done… Yugao, alert their parents that their kids will be spending the night here." Jiraiya sighed with relief as he sat down next to the boys.

"R-Right." Yugao nodded before jumping out of sight.

* * *

There's a saying of how mankind can do anything; from the seemingly impossible such as crossing mountains and oceans to the gentle tending of a fragile flower. There have been stories of men, men who challenge the gods, but stories are stories; riddles that get lost with time.

But when legends are born, greater powers take interest. Whether from boredom or mild curiosity, new eyes – powerful all seeing eyes – tend to pay attention.

For a single man of stories told can't do much, but three?

_Well, isn't that something?_

* * *

_"It is done." _A voice so angelic and powerful it could bring the dead back just to hear it, gently called out.

"I'm sorry my goddess, but what is it?"

_"The deciding factor is complete, Lydia-chan. The champions are up for grabs now." _The voice said as the owner stood from her throne.

"I'll gather the scouts right away, Kami-sama." The current Champion of Heaven, Lydia, replied as she began to make her way out of the white chapel-like throne room.

_"Lydia-chan, not just yet; we cannot rush this, for now we will just have to observe. After all, it is destined that they will come to us either way…" _Kami smiled happily as she walked ever so gracefully towards a pedestal and opened a thick book before turning several pages. _"Fate will bring them to us; either as enemies or allies is not of importance right now, for we _will _meet them."_

Lydia nodded quickly. "I'll order our scouts to be prepared to intervene just in case those pieces of filth try anything. Better safe than sorry."

_"Now, now, no need to be rude, Lydia-chan." _Kami wiggled her finger in mock disapproval.

Lydia bit her lip. "Gomen, Kami-sama… but you understand that we cannot lose the new champions to that bastard devil king and his lowly followers."

Kami – her real name long disowned in place of her title – was beautiful without a doubt and as such had no flaws worth mentioning. Her white-silver hair that reached her ankles was bright, enhancing her deep blue eyes and her blemish-free pale white skin. Her lips were considered as soft as the clouds her realm rested on and had a natural pink hue to them that never faltered. Standing at a respectable six feet four inches, she was considered short by her predecessors. The true definition of beautiful. As for her attire, Kami donned an angelic white robe that exposed a shoulder and reached down to her knees where it parted, exposing her left leg.

She did, however, have some…quirks.

Kami frowned slightly, and that alone drained Lydia of her energy. _"Lydia… Need I remind you that the "bastard" king you just insulted is my younger brother first and the enemy second? Please refrain from insulting him." _Quirk number one: Kami, in all her glory, has a brother complex. A fairly large one at that.

"M-My apologies K-K-Kami-sama… Pl-Please f-forgive me…" Lydia begged as she fell on one knee.

Quirk number two: Not as much as a quirk as much as it is a trait that few could possess was omniscience, the ability of infinite knowledge and knowledge of everything there is to know.

_'Oh, Author-kun, surely you have spent quite a bit of time on me…'_ Kami's thoughts echoed into the author's mind and engraved themselves in the chapter he was typing.

With a shrug, the author ignored her words and continued to describe the goddess.

Her third and final quirk was her self-conscious feelings towards her breast size.

_'…What are you saying Author-kun…?'_ Kami warned mentally.

…Not the biggest size but not the smallest either. Nobody in her realm has said anything due to respect, but perhaps the fact that all the female guards having an A-cup breast size is not just a… *choked gasping*… co…coincidence…!

Kami smiled mentally. _'Oh Author-kun, you write too much…'_

The author is fine, but moving on!

Kami laughed slightly, restoring Lydia's energy. _"You are forgiven, Lydia-chan. Just please try to remember your place, hehehe.'_

Lydia gulped at the semi-threat. "Hai!"

The current Champion of Heaven, Lydia, used to be a human – same as the champions before her. Losing her last name ages ago, she is known as the strongest warrior in the heavens and as such is Kami's most trusted friend, general of war, and guard chief.

Standing at an average five feet six inches Lydia is shorter compared to the habitants of the heavens. Her brown shoulder length hair was tied down to a ponytail matching her light brown skin. Her face was heart-shaped and blemish-free save for a scar that graced her left cheek. Her lips were full but not outward. Her time in heaven changed her eyes to a pure white color.

Being the champion of heaven meant having attire that demonstrated her title: a white angelic-plated armor designed to be effective in battle and beautiful to look at. The armor consisted of a white-gold chest plate that covered her breasts, shoulders, sides and back, but stopped at the navel, where her stomach was exposed. Her arms – from finger to shoulder – were covered by white arm guards that resembled the skin of a dragon due to the scales used to provide extra protection. Covering her lower half was a short armor-plated skirt that reached several inches before the knee. Her legs were protected from any and all attacks thanks to the white armor-plated leggings that resembled the dragon skin used in the arm guards, as white marvelous scales were used to add extra protection.

Around her neck was a pendant given to her by Kami, signifying her title as champion. The pendant itself was shaped to resemble the wings of an angel and as such the pendant always radiated a white light.

Lydia dismissed herself from the room and informed the scouts to be prepared to move at any moment.

For every story told there is always another side to it. A different perspective of it all; everything is the same yet different.

* * *

**"It is done." **A dark sinister sounding voice spoke. **"The deciding factors have finally been recognized." **The owner of the voice moved his hand and began to massage the bridge of his nose.

**"Knowing _her, _she will use this as an opportunity to come and talk to me…" **

"Maou-sama?" The Devil King's current champion Fero was confused over her king's discomfort. "What seems to be the problem?"

**"The champions have been officially recognized, and I fear a meeting between myself and my sister will be unavoidable." **The Devil King groaned as he made a fist.

Fero, concerned for her king, and possibly something else, attempted to raise his spirits. "Worry not, Maou-sama for I will be by your side in case anything happens!" Fero raised her fist with a confident grin.

Maou let himself smile at his champion's actions. **"You have always been there for me, haven't you Fero?" **

The champion of the underworld blushed but smiled. "H-Hai, and I shall stay by your side till the day I die, Maou-sama…"

**"I appreciate your support Fero, thank you."** Maou sighed.

"Shall I assemble the scouts?"

**"No. They cannot rush this and neither can we. Destiny dictates that we will make first contact. For now, we wait."**

"Understood Maou-sama."

The Devil King, Maou, definitely looked the part that his title exclaimed. Long black hair that remained unkempt covered his head except for the two yellow horns that protruded out the sides. His pale brown skin matched his sleek face with a pointed chin, sleek narrow red eyes with slits for pupils, thin eyebrows and a full bottom lip. His hands were thin, smooth and were topped with long black fingernails. Standing at an impressive eight feet ten inches, Maou towers over his subordinates with ease.

For his clothing Maou wore a black cape to match his title. The cape reached his waistline; it had layered shoulder armor and had two chains on the front, underneath the neck that connected both sides of the cape. Underneath the cape Maou wore a thin, long-sleeve black coat that covered half of his neck. The coat had a red lining in the middle that reached down to his abdomen where the coat spilt apart, revealing the black slacks he wore underneath.

Like his older sister Kami, Maou also had several distinguishing quirks to his being.

Despite being the ruler of Hell, his first quirk was the unease he had when his sister, the goddess of heaven, was nearby. His unease was not due to them being on opposite faction, no, for he did not feel his life was threatened when she was around, but threatened in some way he could not understand. Almost as if he were prey for some predator somewhere, but "strangely" enough, he only felt that way when his sister was near.

Like his older sister, Maou shared the ability of omniscience, where all information was known to him. Well, _most _of it anyway.

**_'Oi, what are you getting at?' _**Maou mentally asked.

The author continued without a hitch.

His third and quite frankly his most impressive quirk was that Maou had a hard time trying to comprehend a woman.

**_'Don't we all?' _**

With Maou focused on ruling his realm, matters of the heart, especially love, was foreign to him, ESPECIALLY THE FEELINGS OF THE WOMAN NEXT TO HIM.

**_'Hmm?' _**Maou looked confused before turning towards Fero and caught her staring at him. Fero stammered and turned the other way. Maou tilted his head in confusion.

An author can only do so much, unfortunately.

Fero used to be a human once, but that was before she was chosen to be the Champion of Hell ages ago. Known as the fiercest warrior of the underworld, Fero has retained her title from countless battles, civil wars and revolutions. Her time in Hell, unlike many others, has not changed her appearance, remaining mostly the same from when she was a human.

Having short hair as black as Maou's clashed with her tanned brown skin. Her face was sleek and refined with no blemishes save for the clean scar that runs from above her left eye downwards to the middle of her cheek. Her eyes were round and full, holding an ironic purity despite her title. Her lips were thin and had a shade of red to them naturally; adding to the traits that were changed when she was accepted into Hell were her canines – turned sharp – that could only be visible when she laughed or smiled widely. Standing at an astute five feet and eight inches, she was much shorter than those around her – especially Maou. Her time in Hell changed her eyes from a warm brown to a fierce crimson red.

Her title demanded respect and what better way for her to show her title than by the armor she wears? Fero's attire was forged, sowed and tailored to maximize combat compatibility and to show her rank as an elite. Made from a special type of steel that can only be found in Hell, her armor was extremely durable, resilient from attacks and also unimaginably flexible. The steel used was no ordinary steel as her armor moved with her body at a thickness of only an inch and a half. Despite being so thin, her armor could shrug off even the strongest of strikes as if they were nothing.

Her chest, breasts and sides were covered by the armor; colored a dark red was her chest piece, fitted with thousands of miniature scales that minimized impact and also functioned as a way to cut any foe that got too close. Her arms were covered by the same red armor that her chest was, but the scales were larger to diminish even more impact. Her shoulders were covered by black layered armor guards that could be used to deliver brutal shoulder bashes in combat. The entirety of her legs were covered by the red armor her chest and arms used, once again covered with layered scales to offer the best type of defense. Over her legs she wore an outfitted combat skirt that reached several inches before her knees; the skirt itself was short but durable. Her armor was made to fit the wearer as tight as possible to allow flexibility yet comfortable enough to move in.

Around her neck was the pendant that Maou had presented her when she first fought alongside him. Resembling a demonic eye, her pendant was the sign of her title and she held it proudly every day. On her hands were three rings that Maou gave to her after the first revolution that Hell had. Used for combat, the rings add extra strength to the one wielding them by placing them on the index, middle and pinky fingers of her right hand. She has yet to have ever removed them since she received them.

Just in case it was missed, Fero was madly infatuated with Maou, and every single attempt of hers to let him know went unnoticed.

But that is life, after all.

* * *

**"WHAT…WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"**

The trio jumped up simultaneously from their slumber.

"Where… are we…?" Naruto asked as he tried to sit up but stopped when he noticed the wires that were connected to him. "Why is my body so sore?" He whined as he tried to turn his neck.

Shikamaru groaned. "Are we in a hospital?"

"I… I believe so…" Shino grunted as he and his friends began to remove the wires off of themselves, causing several of the machines in the room to go haywire.

"I think those things that Jiraiya-sensei put on us caused this. Great." Naruto nodded at Shikamaru's explanation.

The trio stepped out of the hospital beds and stretched, popping their joints and removed the tension from their muscles. They took one look at one another and sighed.

"Ha, you guys are wearing hospital dresses!" Naruto laughed.

"So are you, Naruto."

The blonde deadpanned as Shikamaru moved towards the door.

"I don't assume we can just walk out of here, can we?" He suggested as he opened the door to the hallway, revealing a young nurse about to walk in.

"Eh?"

The trio was quiet for several seconds before Shikamaru closed the door slowly as if nothing had happened.

…

"You three should not be up and about!" The nurse scolded.

"Gomen." They apologized from their beds, now fully wired once again.

"It shouldn't even be possible to move around for you three yet." The nurse replied with a confused tone.

"Nurse-san, how long have we been here?" Shino asked.

"Hmm… about six, seven days I guess."

"A week?!"

The nurse cringed, but smiled nonetheless. "I'll go alert the staff that you three awakened. Stay put!"

With the nurse gone, the trio sighed once more before removing the wires and stepped out of the beds.

"Yugao-sensei?" Shino looked towards the window, revealing their sensei climbing in.

"It's about time you three woke up!" She smiled.

Naruto looked around. "What happened to us?"

"It worked, that's what happened. The seals did the job."

The trio nodded slowly, only to look towards the door as the nurse from before walked in; Jiraiya right behind her.

"I'm serious, sweetheart. With legs like those, you could model in magazines!" Jiraiya flirted, causing the nurse to giggle.

The trio deadpanned while Yugao bit her lip to keep her anger in check.

Jiraiya looked at them and smiled. "It's good to see you three are finally awake." He turned to the nurse "Thank you sweetie, but I'll take it from here." He winked.

The nurse smiled before walking out of the room.

The older man tossed a bag filled with clothing to the trio. "I'm glad to see you three awake, but we cannot waste any more time. I need to get going in about a month and I would rather teach you as much as I can before I leave."

There's no rest for the wicked after all.

The first couple of days were different for the trio since they were getting used to the seals. Naruto found it slightly easier to channel his chakra while Shikamaru and Shino found it slightly harder than before. In return, Shikamaru and Shino found that they did not have to wait for their chakra to restore itself; a nice addition indeed.

The seals would end up helping the trio in their chakra exercises in the future, as they were able to easily mold their chakra. The progress was impressive, but that did not mean they could slow down.

Two weeks before Jiraiya had to depart; he had the trio find their chakra nature type by administering a simple test. As it turned out, Naruto's chakra type was Fūton (Wind Style), Shikamaru's was Katon (Fire Style) and Shino's was Raiton (Lightning Style). Having discovered their nature types, Jiraiya had them learn how to use them properly.

In the following couple of days, the trio's clones had begun to focus solely on chakra nature manipulation. Progress was slow, but that was to be expected.

The day Jiraiya had to leave; the trio was asked to meet before the front gates to see their sensei off. It was mid-morning, very cloudy and the feeling was somber.

As it turned out, the old man had gone and grown on the group, Yugao included.

"When will you be back, Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto asked as a single rain drop landed on his head.

Jiraiya smiled the same way he had always smiled when they first met. "Several months, maybe even a year or two." His smile grew when he saw their expressions drop slightly.

"So you're going to leave them all to me, huh?" Yugao asked, trying to hide her somber tone with one of sarcasm. It didn't really work.

Jiraiya put a hand on top of her head. "You'll be fine, Yugao. Honestly, I expected you to be happy about me getting out of your hair for a while." He joked.

"B-Baka…"

He smiled as it began to drizzle. "I'm not leaving you guys with nothing to do, so don't get comfortable. The real training begins now." He tossed Shino a backpack. "Inside is what I want you guys to learn before I return, understand?" They nodded.

"I have high expectations for when I return, okay? Do not let me down." He ordered his team before pointing a fist towards them.

The group looked at his fist and smiled. The drizzle turned to a downpour.

The trio and Yugao raised their own fists.

"Not just a team…" Jiraiya began.

"…but a family!" They finished together as they bumped their fists in unison.

They stood there, waving good-bye, as the rain continued to pour heavily.

**xxOxx**

Taking refuge inside the restaurant the team had become regulars in, the team got their usual table after drying themselves off.

Yugao opened the backpack and began to remove the contents. Inside were several books, a scroll and a picture. The picture had all of them together, smiling as they stood against the tree in the center of their training fields. Jiraiya was in the back, his hand around Yugao's shoulder; from right to left was Shikamaru, Naruto and Shino standing in front of their taller teachers. The photo was taken the day before.

"There's something written on the back." Naruto noted as he saw the handwriting.

Yugao read it aloud. "The team that became a family." She smiled along with the others. She put the picture down and opened the scroll.

_"Hello my students and partner! If you are reading this then that means I have already left the village (don't cry too much!) As you can see, I left behind several books…"_

Naruto grabbed one and opened it, only to find it blank. "What the…? These books are empty!"

Yugao looked at Naruto then back at the scroll and smirked. _"Naruto must have opened a book and realized that they are blank, right?"_

Shikamaru and Shino shared a small laugh as Naruto grumbled.

Yugao continued to read. _"The books are left blank until you place chakra on the cover. Depending on your chakra nature, the books will show different information. Inside these books is what I want you three to learn by the time I come back. The books are quite large, I know, but I'm going to give you three a hidden gem to help you out!"_ Yugao stopped reading the scroll when a separate piece of paper was placed in the way of the text. She pulled it out and saw that it was a hand sign.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)**?" Yugao read the name of the jutsu before taking a look at the hand sign. A pair of hands with both index and middle fingers crossed against each other.

She looked back at the scroll. _"This jutsu is extremely beneficial for it makes solid clones that allow the user to gain the experience the clones received. For example, if each of you use this jutsu to make five clones each and have them train with chakra exercises, you would gain all the experience those clones gained! Sounds impressive, right? Just be careful when using this jutsu for it has a massive chakra consumption requirement to pull it off. I'm sure you three can manage what I want you to learn before I return. Good luck!" _Yugao finished reading before she looked at the boys in front of her.

"Wow…" Naruto whistled as he looked at his friends.

"This sounds like a drag, but I'm looking forward to it." Shikamaru admitted with a grin.

"I agree." Shino nodded.

The trio looked at one another before they turned towards their sensei.

"When do we start?"

* * *

**A/N: So what do you guys think so far? Is the pace too slow? I think it might be… Anyways, TIME SKIP NEXT CHAPTER – well actually a series of time skips as it shows the development of the trio's training, so look forward to that!**

**Please review.**

**Thank you for reading and as always, have a good day.**

**-TheRedGhillie**


	3. Vitality

**Team Aeternum: From Heaven to Hell****  
**

**Chapter 3: Vitality**

**I do not own Naruto.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Two months after Jiraiya had left the village, the trio has been hard at work and their training ground has never been as lively. It took several hours for the trio to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu after Jiraiya had left, and they have been exploiting the benefits of such a powerful technique since then.

"Okay boss, what do we do today?" Naruto asked Naruto.

"Get thirty clones and work on the chakra control exercises, baka! Same as yesterday!" Naruto ordered Naruto, sending him away.

The once lonely and peaceful training ground was now full of life as three-hundred clones were now present. After testing their limits two months ago, the trio found the perfect balance of clones that wouldn't immediately drain all of their chakra at once and had them split up in groups.

Ninety clones were working on regular chakra control exercises, each one adding more experience to the ever increasing control the trio possessed. These clones would only expel at the end of the day, once the sun had set.

One-hundred and twenty others were tasked with practicing elemental chakra, forty clones for each member of the trio. Naruto's worked on Fūton, Shikamaru's worked on Katon and Shino's worked on Raiton. As it turned out, elemental chakra training was extremely difficult for the trio and the reason for that was due to the seals Jiraiya had placed on them. Thanks to the seals, the trio shared the same experience when they would practice their chakra control – well apparently, the same went for elemental chakra training. Although it may sound like a benefit, it was quite the opposite. The techniques used for each individual elemental chakra nature clashed with one another, unfortunately, meaning that the clones had to somehow dig through the experience until they found what worked for their chakra type. To practice with elemental chakra, they used the leaf exercise, where they would each focus chakra on to a leaf in hopes of cutting it (Naruto's Fūton), burning it (Shikamaru's Katon) and finally, wrinkling it (Shino's Raiton). Progress was slow, but that was to be expected.

Off in the sidelines, Yugao was instructing six clones on the tree walking exercise, where the clones had to use their chakra to "stick" to the tree with their feet and walk up and down the trunk. Yugao was happy to report that the clones had little to no problem in doing the exercise and would have them run instead of walk in several days.

The rest of the clones were working on the three basic jutsu Jiraiya had tasked them to complete: **Kawarimi (Body Replacement), Shunshin (Body Flicker) **and **Bunshin (Clone Technique)**. These techniques were simple to learn and master, even more so due to the vast amount of clones working hard simultaneously. These three techniques were expected to be mastered in a day or two.

The trio's chakra control was impressive for their age, but not unheard of either. It would still be a while before it became something to brag about.

**Two months later…**

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball!)" **Shikamaru pulled the necessary hand signs before releasing a small fireball from his mouth. The ball traveled through the air before it dissipated into nothing.

Naruto laughed. "_Great _fireball jutsu? More like "meh" fireball jutsu!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Bite me, Naruto. This is hard to pull off."

"Sure, sure." The blonde shrugged.

"Tch. Then why don't _you_ show us what you got?" The Nara challenged the blonde, who then accepted.

"I'll show you, Shikamaru!" Naruto warned before inhaling air and made several hand signs. "**Fūton: Kaze no Perretto (Wind Release: Wind Pellets!)" **As he exclaimed, Naruto shot three pellets of air that collided with Shikamaru's chest.

Shikamaru looked unimpressed. "Ouch! The pain! You sure showed me, Naruto-_sama_!" The sarcasm dripped off of his words, sending Naruto on a rant.

Shino and Yugao shared a grin at their teammates' antics.

"Let's see what you have, Shino." Yugao offered.

He nodded before performing several hand signs. "**Raiton: Denki Shokku. (Lightning Release: Electric Shock.)" **A spark of energy formed around Shino's hands before he pointed at his friends with his index finger, launching the electric current.

"Gyah!"

"Gah!"

The two boys yelped in pain from the small shock.

"_Shino!" _

Yugao let the boys fight with their pathetic attacks as she looked around the training field. Hundreds of clones were at work, training in various ways. Some were practicing their fighting stances and techniques while others worked on chakra control and elemental chakra practices. Off in the shade, several clones were reading books on who-knows-what, and a few others were practicing their jutsu just like the originals were.

It seemed surreal to Yugao; all the progress that was done thanks to these clones was just hard to comprehend. The trio could perform the jutsu listed in the books, but they only needed practice to get the real results. At the rate they were going at, they'd be finished before Jiraiya returns. She then looked at the clones practicing water walking and was glad to see that they were able to jump on the water without sinking.

Progress was good.

**Two more months later (Six months since Jiraiya left)**

Yugao was lounging around with the trio as the clones practiced what they needed to do. Normally, she would be against this kind of laziness, but then again, they were _technically _doing several weeks' worth of training per day.

So, yeah. Yugao shrugged and wondered if Shino had any extra sunglasses she could borrow to relax/supervise better. Instead of asking, however, she decided to check up on their progress.

"So, how goes it with the books?" She asked as a Naruto clone fanned her begrudgingly.

"I now know a little more than half the book." Naruto – the real one – gushed, earning a nod from his friends.

"Same here. Should we increase the amount of clones to work on the book?" Shikamaru suggested, only getting a negative from his sensei.

"Don't overdo it. Besides, half the book is impressive." She yawned as she motioned for the Naruto slave- I mean clone, to fan slightly harder.

"Wow Yugao-sensei, you got lazy." Naruto joked as he accepted the bowl of berries his clone brought.

"I resent that. Don't you know that all this time I have been – Naruto, what… what are you eating?" Yugao turned a pale white as she eyed the bowl of red berries in his hands.

Naruto looked confused. "Berries, why?" He grabbed one and motioned it to her. "Do you want one?"

Yugao slapped the berry out of his hand. "Naruto those berries are poisonous!" Yugao stood up and kicked the bowl out of his hands with her good leg.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "But I've always eaten these!" He tried to explain casually as he picked up three off of the ground and popped them into his mouth.

"No, Naruto!" Yugao was a ghostly shade of white.

Naruto didn't buy it. He's been eating these berries since he was a little kid and nothing about them was bad. Shikamaru and Shino could vouch for him – even if they never tried one when he offered them one.

The horrified look on his sensei's face when he began to chew worried him though. But the berries were safe to eat, right?

Right.

He swallowed.

**xxOxx**

The head doctor at the Konohagakure Hospital walked around the first floor, smiling happily at the patients and getting smiles in return. It was a peaceful day inside the hospital; no deaths, no emergencies or shortages of any kind.

He stopped before a crying child and knelt down. "Your father will be fine." He reassured her, causing her to smile back at him. He stood up and walked to the lobby where he chatted with the pretty receptionist.

Calm indeed.

Then the door slammed revealing a Jōnin holding someone the doctor recognized. The purple haired woman looked worried as she looked around in a panic. The doctor hurried towards her.

"What seems to be the problem, miss?" He asked as if to calm her. For an answer, she took out several berries from her pocket. "Oh my…" The doctor sighed.

Those berries were a biological mystery. They were recently discovered (about eleven years ago) by villagers. Animals avoided them, insects would not eat them, when they grew they would fall but would not rot instead they would harden. No use has been found for them.

That is, except for extremely effective toxins.

Ever since their discovery, over fifty fatalities have been reported due to poisoning by consumption of this deadly toxin. As unfortunate as it was, most of these cases were of toddlers who mistook the bright red berry as candy. No anti-toxin has been made for this as of yet.

"Hi doc, how you doing?" The blonde asked casually as he was seated in one of the various emergency rooms.

"I'm doing fine, Naruto." The doctor replied just as casually. He knew Naruto from his father.

_'That man's medicine works miracles…' _He thought with gratitude. The hospital called upon Keima when there was an extreme shortage on medicine several years back. Keima saved more than a handful of lives that day and did not accept any monetary compensation for his effort.

"So, Naruto, you ate one of these?" He held out the berry.

"Today? About eight of them actually. I've been eating them for years though; I'm fine." He answered back.

The doctor nodded slowly. "You know about toxins, correct?" Naruto nodded. "Then you could identify this?" He asked as he held out a small dish holding a red liquid.

Naruto grabbed the dish and tilted it slightly to see the viscosity of the liquid. "It doesn't have a scent and it flows like oil… it's cohesive…" He showed the doctor as he tilted the dish. "The liquid doesn't leave a drop behind." He raised an eyebrow.

"I'd say this is a neurotoxin. Low quality, but could be crippling if it were in a greater quantity." Naruto concluded.

"Neurotoxin, eh? Tell me then, what would be the effects if somebody were to get afflicted with this?" The doctor asked as he put the dish away on the nearby table.

Naruto thought about it. "Well, when it comes to neurotoxins it all depends on how they are tweaked. Adding certain types of ingredients can change the results dramatically. Just this by itself, with no modifications, makes for a potent toxin that can cause nerve damage depending where it is implemented. If it were to be digested, however, the stomach acid will cause for the toxin to boil, corroding the intestinal wall and then a slow death. With the right modifications, this toxin can be made into a paralysis neurotoxin that can stop movement. Mind if I asked how you got it?"

The doctor rubbed his hands together. "Naruto… that toxin is the result of crushing one of these…" he held up the berry "…and diluting it with half a gallon of water."

The silence inside the room made the rest of the team outside nervous.

"W…What do you mean?"

"The amount that you ate should have killed you, Naruto. It's unbelievable that you can still breathe and have a normal conversation with me."

The doctor began to think. _'There are rumors that the berries were a result of the Kyuubi's chakra that it released when it attacked. Could that have anything to do with this?' _

The doctor walked to a cabinet and took out two slips of blue paper. He dipped one into the red liquid and watched as the paper turned a dark red.

"Naruto, this litmus paper is used to determine if a substance is acidic or basic based on its' properties. As you can see, the blue paper turned a deep red when it touched the toxin. It's going to sound odd, but can you focus your chakra onto your hands and then touch the paper?"

Naruto grabbed the paper nervously and gathered chakra.

Several seconds passed before the slip of paper fell on to the floor.

The dark red color of the paper contrasted with that of the white floor.

**~ xxOxx ~**

"It appears his chakra took the same effect the poison did. It might have been the demon that protected Naruto from getting poisoned and incorporated the poison into his chakra system." The doctor explained to Yugao.

"And the other two?" She asked; the doctor was up to date on their situation. "Is their chakra poisonous too?"

The doctor shrugged. "We tested them and they seem to be in the clear. It appears to just be Naruto. He doesn't know…does he?" The doctor asked sadly and received a negative for the answer.

"Until he does find out, just say it is a bloodline he has."

"Will it do the same for any poison?"

"That I do not know, but I'm assuming you're not really willing to find out, are you?" The doctor asked with a small smile.

She chuckled.

**~ xxOxx ~**

"So… you have a Kekkei Genkai that… makes your chakra as potent as any poison you swallow?" Shikamaru asked as he began to use body flicker to quickly move across the field.

"That's right." Naruto confirmed as he made about ten Bunshin and ten shadow clones.

"That seems… extremely beneficial." Shino commented as he sparred with one of his clones, demonstrating the kawarimi as a clone hit him from behind.

"Yeah, I just seem to get better every day." Naruto mock-gloated, earning a laugh.

**Six Months Later (One year since Jiraiya's departure)…**

It was raining again.

The trio was waiting in front of the main gates, each holding an umbrella to cover them from the rain. The expressions they had were mixed. They gripped the handle of their umbrellas tighter before walking away from the main gates.

He still hasn't come back.

**~ xxOxx ~**

"He _did_ say it could be a year or two, y'know." Yugao sighed as she oversaw the trio sparring with one another in the rain. Her team had been standing by the front gate every day of the month early in the morning only to come back disappointed every time.

"He could write though…" Naruto commented as he caught Shino's fist with his hand and then punished the Aburame with a leg sweep, causing Shino to fall on his back.

"Maybe he can't, Naruto. Who knows what kind of business he's doing right now." Yugao tried to explain as she saw Naruto straddle Shino's waist before delivering several punches to the Aburame's face.

The thunder began to pick up again, as did the rain.

"Knowing him, his only business is at a brothel." Shikamaru half-joked as he ran towards his friends and smashed his knee against Naruto's face; launching the blonde several feet away. Yugao winced when Naruto got on his feet and popped his jaw.

"I do not doubt it." Shino – still on the ground below Shikamaru – commented before he quickly got on his knees and punched the Nara in the stomach, causing the boy to hunch over in pain. Shino stood up on his feet and wrapped an arm around Shikamaru's head before he swept the Nara's legs and pushed forward; slamming Shikamaru's face onto the ground.

"You three sound like worried wives waiting for their husband to come back from a trip." Yugao laughed from her position in the tree above.

"_You're _one to talk, Yugao-sensei!" Naruto scolded as he drop-kicked Shino in the chest.

"W-What?"

"Naruto is right, Yugao-sensei. Don't think we haven't noticed you hiding near the front gate everyday behind us." Shikamaru agreed as he kicked Naruto's chin, launching the boy into the air.

"Wait…"

"Today you were behind the big tree around the corner." Shino added. He dodged Shikamaru's attacks and parried with his own.

"Hold on…"

"Yesterday you were on the rooftops behind us!" Naruto body slammed Shikamaru onto the ground before getting his ribs punted by Shino.

"Stop…"

"And the day before that you were…" Shikamaru got cut off.

"E-Enough!" Yugao – now thoroughly embarrassed – stopped both the sparring and the conversation before it got any worse; for her and for them.

"I-It's been a while, is all…" She sighed as she looked up at the sky. The rain wasn't going to let up anytime soon.

The team had grown since Jiraiya's absence for the past year. The books he had assigned were all completed simultaneously; showcasing several E-Ranked jutsu that can become stronger once some amount of elemental chakra training has been completed, while the rest of the book gave insights on how to create new techniques using information provided. Thanks to the large amount of clones practicing elemental chakra control every day, the trio was able to channel their chakra's affinity with little to no problem and as such was now in the process of creating their own custom jutsu.

Aside from the elemental chakra, the trio worked on their own individual projects to pass the time.

Naruto had begun three new subjects to master in the last couple of months. The first subject was Fūinjutsu.

Ever since the trio received the seals that blended their chakra pools together, Naruto's interest with the sealing arts skyrocketed. Borrowing books from the ninja library, Naruto had his clones read and memorize every little detail in practice and theory. After he read every book he could find, he had his clones practice the calligraphy required before he had them practice real sealing formulas. Fūinjutsu was difficult in its own right, but Naruto was extremely adept on the subject and thus learned quickly from his mistakes.

Secondly, Naruto began to utilize his newly discovered Kekkei Genkai with his techniques to create some nice possibilities. Naruto's ever growing talent with alchemy has rewarded him with potent toxins that could paralyze, numb, or knock out an opponent quickly. He simply had to ingest one of his toxins and the effect would be implemented to his chakra. Naruto's wind pellet jutsu – now heavily improved since he learned it six months ago – was a prime candidate to abuse his new ability since it could be used from long range.

Finally, Naruto had begun to learn his father's unique fighting style known only by those from the Kizaki clan. The fighting style was unique due to the unpredictable nature it had since there was no real foundation. An attack had to be followed by another, then another, and another, and another. For example, a punch would have to have at least three different follow ups such as a leg sweep, tackle, or headbutt, which in turn would require another three different follow ups. The moves used all depend on the situation at hand. In short, this fighting style is relentless, all out, hyper offensive, high risk high reward. A large amount of stamina, flexibility, agility and conditioning are required in order to successfully pull off this style.

Shikamaru had a unique question when he chose what he should learn: "What can maximize my techniques and my teammates' abilities?"

The answer?

Ninja wire.

Used primarily for traps, ninja wire is extremely durable, resilient and – if need be – sharp.

Shikamaru chose to master this handy tool in order to benefit his shadow possession jutsu, Naruto's toxic Fūton jutsu and Shino's destruction beetles. By confining an enemy inside a web of ninja wire, he/she would not be able to move; leaving them vulnerable to the trio's jutsu. Shikamaru would make clones and have them create intricate webs with him inside where he would then try to find any gaps someone could escape with.

Besides the ninja wire, Shikamaru began to have fun working on his clan's shadow techniques. The Nara clan required precision with their chakra control in order to successfully use their techniques. As of right now, Shikamaru's chakra control was getting better and better every day and to add to his abilities was the higher than average chakra pool he possessed, allowing him to do more than his other clan members. Shikamaru was able to move his shadow more than one hundred feet and was able to hold a shadow possession for nearly half an hour.

There's a certain rush that comes from a well-placed explosion, and Shino discovered that first hand several months ago. After wondering what he should work on in his free time, Yugao suggested the art of making things go boom and got Shino's undivided attention. The adrenaline brought on by an explosion aside, Shino worked with explosives due to how well they mixed with his friend's abilities. After all, a paralyzed or shadow possessed opponent cannot exactly argue with a high powered paper bomb, right?

Right.

Throughout the year, Shino began to feel a side effect from his boosted chakra pool. The swarm inside began to grow at an accelerated rate thanks to the larger chakra supply, giving Shino an unprecedented allowance of beetles at his disposal. An Aburame's swarm has to maintain a certain size; if it was too big it could easily wipe out the host's chakra supply and cause harm, but Shino was different thanks to the seal that merged his chakra pool with those of his friend's. The swarm continued to grow inside, increasing his abilities.

Yugao had assessed them and categorized them by their abilities. Naruto was a close range brawler and staller for his fighting style would make him a force to be reckoned with once he mastered it and his toxins could definitely stall an opponent out.

Shino was a mid-range specialist thanks to his swarm and the explosive support he could dish out once he became proficient with them.

Shikamaru was deemed as a long-range fighter and strategist due to his shadow possession jutsu and strategist once he mastered the use of the ninja wire to trap opponents.

The team would definitely become a force to be reckoned with once they got more experience with their techniques. But as of now, they needed guidance and it was up to her to give it out.

Yugao jumped from the tree and landed before the trio. "All right, I know we were all expecting him to be back by now, but seeing as that is not the case, we will have to wait a bit more. However, this does not mean we can slack off until he gets back; quite the opposite, really." She began to pace before them, crutch still in hand. "I already gave you three my assessment on your abilities and gave you a path you could follow, but I'll say it once more. Naruto, you will work on your father's taijutsu, alchemy, fūinjutsu and everything in between. Shino, focus on your clan's techniques to fully utilize your swarm, work on the explosives as well and don't slack off when it comes to your taijutsu. Shikamaru, you are a long-range fighter so work on your clan's techniques, especially the distance and duration and finally, work more with ninja wire to improve." She took a breath.

"On top of that, you three will need to work on creating your own jutsu. All of that is what we will be working on until Jiraiya returns, understood?" Thunder hammered the sky, illuminating the area with a flash. The trio nodded.

"Then let's get to work." Yugao smiled.

* * *

**Meanwhile in Hell**

"What are you thinking about, Maou-sama?" Fero asked her king as he kept an eye on the champions.

Maou crushed the red gem in his hand, interrupting the visual feed of the training champions. **"They'll be strong in due time if they continue along this path, that is certain." **Maou shrugged before he placed a hand on his chin, taking the pose of a thinker.

Fero caught herself staring at him. "I-Is something the matter, my lord?" She looked concerned.

**_'Time is not on our side, Fero. Our people, my subjects, know about the champions' existence and are growing steadily impatient as to why I have not gotten them on our side. Tension is growing and I fear this will not end well…' _**Maou thought to himself, finding it better not to let Fero know what he knew.

**"I am fine." **He said with a genuine smile, making Fero smile as well.

**_'…and another civil war might rise from this…' _**He thought grimly before he rose from his throne and walked to the outermost balcony. From there he was able to see the entirety that was his realm.

The sky in Hell was a dark purple and always in a cloudy state of a brewing thunderstorm as benevolent as one could imagine. The Underworld, Nether, Hell; these were the names associated with Maou's realm by the humans of earth. Humans lived in the realm between Maou's and Kami's, one side deemed good and the other… deemed a place of malice and evil.

**_'If only they knew the whole truth…' _**Maou thought as he gazed at his realm once more, checking the four districts that composed it.

District Maria: The largest district in his realm and was therefore the most populated as it was located snuggly in between the other three districts. Maria was home to his "civilian" subjects – merchants, blacksmiths, townspeople, etc. This particular district was placed in between the others due to the importance it held to Hell, for it supplied the others with supplies, future soldiers and morale.

Maou scanned the district once before his mind began to process the information received. He smiled kindly. **"Three billion, four-hundred and twenty-seven million, three-hundred and sixty-eight thousand, nine-hundred and seventy-seven subjects of mine…" **(3,427,368,977)

As one might guess, this high of a population might be considered staggering for a single district, but that was not the case in Maou's realm. For, you see, Hell was flat unlike the round earth the humans inhabited. Maria was about the size of two human earths stretched out, and as such, Maria was a vast environment with forests, mountain ranges, oceans, tundra, deserts and the like similar to earth. Of course, the animals were different in appearance and size, but alas, that is to be expected.

Northwest of Maria was one of the other districts: Rosa.

District Rosa: This district was home to one of the three military factions of Hell and was known as the most strategic of the three. Rosa had an approximate population of about 1.6 billion and was the size of a single human earth stretched out. Their planning and coordination was unheard of. Maou rolled his eyes when it came to dealing with members of this district due to their hyper inflated ego and quick wit; always challenging him in political affairs. As it stands, Maou has not lost a single debate with the members of Rosa.

Much to their annoyance.

East of Rosa and Northeast to Maria was District Andrea.

District Andrea: Home to roughly 1.4 billion inhabitants, Andrea is the smallest of the three military districts in population size, but was known as the strongest. Andrea was home to the fiercest warriors in Hell; their ruthless nature and bloodlust shocked foe and ally alike. Maou had no objections with this district, except for their constant demand for war to "test their mettle" or something along the lines of that. Their small population is due to the rarity of their characteristics; not many are born with such sadistic traits and as such, their district was the size of a single human earth stretched out.

South of Maria, Southwest of Rosa and Southeast of Andrea was the third and final military district of Hell; District Maya.

District Maya: The largest of the military districts, Maya houses approximately 2.8 billion soldiers. The location of this district was a strategic decision that was linked to its large population size. The larger military force balanced the distance from the other districts in case an attack occurred from the south. The inhabitants of this district lacked the strategic knowledge that the residents of Rosa had and also lacked the ruthlessness from the warriors of Andrea, but made up for their lack of skills with unmatched power when using magic. Maou enjoyed the atmosphere in Maya, due to the majority of the residents being airheaded, naïve and genuinely kind.

This was his realm; Hell. It has withstood the test of time so far, but every palace eventually falls. For every grain of sand that passes in the hourglass known as time, everything weakens and will eventually collapse.

Fero joined her king on the balcony and placed her hand on his, surprising him. "Don't worry Maou-sama; I will not let your realm go under!" She smiled, exposing a small fang.

Maou nodded. **"I… I know."**

**_'Rosa, Andrea and Maya want a war… It is unavoidable, but so soon? This will not end well unless I can satisfy them somehow.' _**

Maou closed his eyes. **_'I need time.'_**

The wheels are turning with war at the end of the road and only time will tell whether or not bloodshed could be avoided.

~ xxOxx ~

"They're improving, wouldn't you agree, Kami-sama?" Lydia was watching the trio's progress with an interested grin.

_"It will be only a matter of time before we get to personally meet them, Lydia-chan."_ Kami replied before she looked at a map of her realm.

Unlike Hell, Heaven was not separated by districts, but instead was one massive territory. The days were always sunny and the nights were fair; what one would expect from the title Heaven.

Kami sighed.

Kami loved all her subjects, she really did, but some of them… made it hard for her to believe herself sometimes. These subjects were categorized by three distinct groups that attempted to hide their presence:

The Overseers: A portion of her subjects completely convinced that they are superior to the humans of the mid-realm and thus, constantly nagged Kami into letting their organization descend unto the mid-realm and take charge.

The Sacred Blades: Consisting of members from all of the groups, this organization hated – no, _detested_ Hell and all those that associated themselves with it. Wanting nothing less than total annihilation towards Hell, they use their numbers to demand for war. Kami gets annoyed by these the most.

The Rebels: Considering themselves to be a "secret" organization, this group wants to overthrow Kami and take over permanently. This group consists of several important personnel from the other two groups and thus made it the smallest one. Kami found them troublesome, but was not worried. Yet.

The only reason she was not able to disband these groups was due to the fact that the leaders of these groups carried weight in her realm and having them put down would increase the already high tension. Kami cursed the fact that she let these groups establish so many centuries ago.

_"The weight a name can carry, huh?" _Kami murmured out loud.

"Kami-sama?" Lydia asked with concern.

_"It is nothing, Lydia-chan. Just thinking out loud, is all." _Kami smiled to reassure her champion.

_'I need the champions…'_Kami looked back to their training. _'Their names and presence could stop a potential war and allow me to squash these so called "groups" once and for all…' _

Kami pursed her lips into a smile. _'I am sorry, my darling little brother, but I can **not **lose this!'_

One could practically hear Maou shudder.

~ xxOxx ~

**One year and five months later…**

It happened.

As unceremoniously as possible, perhaps, but it still happened.

With a simple greeting, he interrupted their training; leaving the training ground eerily silent. With a simple nod, he confirmed that it was true.

It happened.

Jiraiya came back.

"J-Jiraiya-sensei…?"

"Kept you waiting, eh?" Jiraiya had his arms crossed and was flashing a knowing smile. His team was looking at him with a certain look in their eyes.

"I think we have some catching up to do, don't you think so?" At their nods, he clapped his hands together. "Let's take a break and go somewhere to eat, how about it?"

The restaurant they chose was soon filled with stories and laughter.

For the first time in what appeared to be ages, the rain finally let up.

* * *

**A/N: Okay! This chapter is over and done with! **

**Sorry with the late update, but I had college finals that took up my time, then I had to move out of my college dorm… ugh… Anyways… **

**Next chapter will be the **LAST**time skip and will be the beginning of the Wave Arc! You guys excited? Please let me know in the review section!**

**-TheRedGhillie**

**p.s. Omake ahead! ****J**

* * *

Birthday Surprise! (ft. Shino)

**"Fero, what day is it today in the human's realm?" **Maou asked as he looked up from a book.

"Today is…" Fero scratched her head "…January 22nd, Maou-sama. Why do you ask?"

* * *

_"It appears that one of the champion's has his birthday tomorrow." _Kami answered Lydia's question.

"Birthday?"

_"Yes, one earth year since the day of his birth will pass tomorrow and it is custom to hold a celebration for the event." _

* * *

"Oh! I almost forgot what that was!" Fero smiled as she remembered the tradition.

Maou nodded. **"Tomorrow will be Shino Aburame's birthday and I believe we can use that to our advantage."**

"Oh? How so, Maou-sama?"

* * *

_"Simple, all we have to do is send somebody down to their realm to attend his party. From there, somebody will deliver a gift as a way for him to keep an open mind to our favor…" _Kami smiled a little _too _innocently.

* * *

"Who are we going to send, Maou-sama?" Fero asked as she tilted her head with confusion. Maou smiled.

* * *

**"Get a nice dress tailored, Fero. You have a party to attend." **

_"Get a nice dress tailored, Lydia-chan! You have a party to attend!"_

"Eh?!"

"Eh?!"

~ xxOxx ~

**At the Aburame clan grounds the following day…**

Fero huffed a breath out as she crossed her arms self-consciously. "They didn't have to make the dress so… _daring_!" She growled through clenched teeth.

Fero was asked to tailor a dress, but being the warrior that she is, she had no idea on how to sew. She nearly killed the tailor when she was presented the finished product.

A crimson dress that hugged her body and left little to the imagination was her apparel for this "mission" (if it could even be called that). The only reason she actually wore it was due to Maou telling her she looked good in it.

She blushed at the memory.

To not stick out like a sore thumb, Fero had used illusionary magic to trick the clan members into believing she was an old family friend visiting the birthday boy.

Speaking of the birthday boy, Fero was having a difficult time in finding the champion. "Where could he be?"

Someone tapped her shoulder from behind, causing Fero to turn and instantly fall into a battle stance.

"Looking for a certain champion, demon?" Lydia growled as she resisted the urge to stab the woman in front of her. Lydia was wearing a white dress designed to give a look of purity.

Fero glared daggers towards the opposing woman. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"That's my line!" Lydia tapped Fero's shoulder with force, but in doing so she revealed the small white gift bag in her hand. Lydia let out a yelp in surprise before she attempted to hide the bag behind her back.

Fero had a look of surprise before she distanced herself from the opposing champion. After blending in with the crowd, Fero put a hand over her ear and whispered a message.

_"Maou-sama I have an emergency here! Lydia, Heaven's champion, is here! Do I engage?" _

A few seconds later she received a response.

**_"Surely you must have anticipated this, Fero." _**Maou's words echoed in her head. **_"Do not engage in a fight. Make sure Shino gets the gift and get back here in one piece."_**

Fero nodded before she looked around once more.

The Aburame clan grounds had been furnished with a variety of tables, lights and chairs with a festive yet reserved atmosphere.

Weird combination, right?

Amongst the Aburame were plenty members of the Nara clan as well; the two families became close due to Shino and Shikamaru's friendship with one another and now both families fancied each other's company.

Fero began to search up for the birthday boy; saying hello to the various Aburame who greeted her while also ignoring the concentrated killing intent coming from Lydia.

After searching for several minutes, Fero finally found Shino at the entrance letting his friends – the other two champions – inside.

Fero paused. _'The three champions together?' _She did not plan on meeting them all at once. She looked at the red gift bag in her hand with a frown. _'Is one gift enough?' _Her thoughts were cut short when Fero saw Lydia approaching Shino from behind.

Her eyes narrowed before she hurried towards him as well.

"Shino-kun - oof!" Lydia attempted to call out his name but got pushed into the bush nearby by Fero.

Shino, who had his back turned at the moment, heard his name and turned to see an unfamiliar woman standing next to a rustling bush.

"Remember me, Shino-kun?" Fero asked as her eyes began to glow; placing the illusionary magic on herself to try to fool the boy before her.

"…My apologies miss, but I am sorry to say I do not remember making your acquaintance." Shino bowed in respect.

Fero was dumbstruck. Champion or not, illusionary magic was not supposed to be seen through the eyes of a human!

Fero thought quickly. "I-I do not let blame you Shino-kun, we _did_ meet when you were younger." She smiled.

"I see…"

Fero was about to hand the gift over but stifled a cry when Lydia pinched her side.

"Tch… Don't bother the birthday boy (...bitch…)." Lydia whispered the last part as she twisted her fingers, pinching Fero even harder.

"!" Fero inhaled from the sting. "O-Oh you _kidder_!" Fero elbowed Lydia's ribs hard enough to make Heaven's champion reel back in pain.

Shino was confused. "Are you perhaps friends?"

Fero looked at Lydia.

_'Friends with this flat bitch? Hell no!'_

Lydia glared at Fero.

_'Friends with this demon cow? Fuck that!'_

They faked a smile.

"Y-Yes we are! Isn't that right, _Lydia-chan_?!" Fero _slammed_ her elbow hard into Lydia's chest.

"H-Hai! We are _great_ friends!" Lydia tightened her fingers to make the pinch hurt twice as much.

Shino could tell something was going on but disregarded it. "Please enjoy the festivities. Thank you for coming, Fero-san and Lydia-san." With a quick nod the eleven year old made his way back to his friends.

When Shino was out of ear-shot, the two rival champions broke the close contact and began to massage the pain.

"You bitch, that hurt!" Lydia hissed as she held her hurting chest.

Fero was rubbing her side where Lydia pinched. "Maybe if you had a bigger chest it wouldn't have hurt so much, you flat-chested wench!" Fero's smug look turned into one of agony when Lydia pinched her side again with extra vigor.

"Maybe if the fat from your cow udders were to go to the rest of your body, _this _wouldn't hurt so much!"

**_"Fero, do I need to repeat myself? Do _****not_ engage Lydia in combat." _**Maou scolded Fero telepathically.

_"Lydia-chan, please refrain from causing a fight with Fero-chan!"_

The two champions growled, but nonetheless stopped attacking each other.

"You have no idea how badly I want to strangle the life out of you."

"Don't worry, I understand perfectly."

They growled for a moment before Fero looked coy and asked "So… what did Heaven get for him?"

Lydia scoffed. "Why do you care?"

"I was just wondering. You don't have to be so rude about it, flat-chest."

Lydia growled at the nickname. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it is infinitely better than what Hell came up with, cow udders!"

Before another fight began between the two, Fero stopped to think. "So, you don't know what it is?"

Judging by the way she said that, Lydia realized that Fero was too unaware as to what kind of gift Hell came up with.

"D-Do you?"

Letting their curiosity get the better of them for the moment, the two champions each reached for their rival's gift bag to pick up the gift.

Lydia had picked up a dark red orb with her hand.

Fero picked up a white orb in hers.

**_"Fero, I suggest you get rid of that item."_**

_"Lydia-chan, throw the orb away quickly!"_

The orbs began to radiate a bright light.

The two champions looked at one another before they realized what the items were.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Well, shit."

The champions muttered before the orbs shot them upwards before two silent – but tremendous – multi-colored explosions occurred above the village, lighting up the night sky.

The crowd of people at the party looked at the explosions with awe.

Shibi looked at the explosions as the partygoers clapped at the sight. _'I do not remember ordering fireworks…' _

**_"Perhaps the anti-holy orb was a bit too much…"_**

_"Oops… Did the anti-demonic orb do its job too well?" _

* * *

**Omake End. :)****  
**


	4. Equilibrium

**Team Aeternum: From Heaven to Hell**

**Chapter 4: Equilibrium**

**I do not own Naruto.**

**Enjoy!**

"There is no need for you to do this…" Shino warned. He tightened the grip on his kunai as he finished the warning, however.

His opponent smirked. "Oh? What are you, _scared_, bug boy?"

Shino raised an eyebrow as he got into a fighting stance. "Hardly."

Engaged in a similar situation next to the Aburame was Shikamaru, who was staring down his own opponent.

"I've heard a lot about those eyes, Hyūga. If what I've heard is true, then can't you see that this is a bad idea?" Shikamaru mocked the older boy as he made several clones; each with the same confident grins.

The Hyūga focused his eyes as veins began to protrude near them. He took his own kunai in his hand and got into a fighting stance.

"Talk is cheap, dropout. It is you who shall fail here."

Next to the Hyūga was his teammate, getting ready to face off against his own foe.

"Turn back now, Naruto-kun…" He warned the blonde. "…because I will not be responsible for what happens otherwise!" He tightened his wrist wraps.

"Turn back from this?" The blonde scoffed. "And miss out on all the fun? I…don't…think…so!" Naruto smiled as he popped his joints. He got into his own stance, eager for battle.

The two teams stood on the water's surface, the moon illuminated the fight soon to come.

The trio felt the mark on their left arm began to glow and grow warm, and with that sensation they knew they were ready to fight.

Naruto clicked his teeth together; the faint noise caused both teams to run towards one another. Time grew slow as the trio thought the same thing:

'_How… How did this happen…?' _

**Three Days Ago**

Shino, Naruto and Shikamaru stood shoulder to shoulder with their hands behind their backs as they waited for further instructions.

Their two teachers stood in front of them, one had his arms crossed while the other had a hand on a crutch. The students looked at their teachers and vice versa, each having certain look in their eyes.

Minutes passed in silence before the oldest member of the team, Jiraiya, cleared his throat.

"As we all know, today will be the final day of your training…" He let his words linger in the air for a moment. "On this day, six years ago, you three began your ninja lives by practicing, training and learning what we taught and also motivated yourselves – and each other – to complete the goals we set before you."

A small breeze passed by them.

"You three have grown by leaps and bounds as you completed lesson after lesson while perfecting the expectations Yugao and I had set before you."

Yugao smiled. "While the beginning was kind of trial and error, these past couple of years was nothing short of amazing in your development as ninjas."

The trio tried their hardest to contain their emotions from showing as they felt a smile tugging at their lips.

Jiraiya smiled earnestly. "You three have worked hard, very hard these six years and as such, Yugao and I are proud to give you three your own hitai-ate, officially making you three ninjas of Konohagakure." Jiraiya snapped his fingers, causing three clouds of white smoke to appear with a *poof*. When the smoke dissipated, three headbands were revealed in a table in front of them.

"Congratulations." Jiraiya and Yugao said in unison, each with their own proud smile.

The trio got out of position and approached the table before them. They each picked one before they examined them before looking up at their teachers.

The morning sun could not have been brighter that day.

Once the trio had their headbands placed proudly around their necks, Jiraiya had one extra surprise for them when they arrived at their favorite restaurant.

With a yellow folder in hand, Jiraiya grinned. "Think of this as a graduation gift, you three." He said as he placed the file on the center of the table they were sitting at. The restaurant was filled with chatter from the other patrons sitting nearby.

Yugao, who was sitting next to Jiraiya, was surprised to say the least. "A mission so soon, Jiraiya?" She raised an eyebrow.

The trio leaned towards the center of the table when they heard the word "mission."

Jiraiya nodded. "That's right. I managed to pull some strings with the help of the old man to net these three an appropriate mission for their talents."

"And make them miss the exciting, action-packed thrill of D-ranked missions? How mean of you Jiraiya!" Yugao chuckled to herself. Jiraiya laughed knowingly.

As the adults were laughing amongst themselves, the trio was slowly inching their hands towards the file in front of them.

"What's the mission, Jiraiya-sensei?" Shikamaru asked as he eyed the folder with a curious stare.

The older man opened the folder and removed the contents before placing the documents across the table in front of the trio. He then pointed to the document in the middle.

"There was a distress signal that came in late last night from a team in the Land of Waves. Their mission was to protect this man…" He pointed to the attached photo on the document. "…from danger."

He continued. "This man goes by the name of Tazuna and is known far and wide as a very talented bridge builder."

Naruto brought the picture of Tazuna closer to his face. "This old man? Why would he be in danger?"

Yugao took a sip from her coffee and furrowed her brow at the taste. "Ooh, needs sugar…." She looked up at the trio. "Remember, he is from the Land of Waves; think economically."

"The Land of Waves, economically speaking, could be a hotspot for trade thanks to its location. Being surrounded by plenty of villages and harbors would certainly make the village an economic haven." Shino recalled.

"Precisely, which is why a bridge would certainly expand their trade, exports and imports, wouldn't you agree?"

The trio nodded, but Shikamaru still had a doubt. "That still does not explain as to why Tazuna is being targeted. Who would try to stop an economic expansion from happening?"

"If memory serves me right, a corporation set up a monopoly over the village, cutting off its exports and imports. In doing so, Wave has become economically unstable." Yugao placed a finger on her chin as she recalled the information. "A bridge that breaks the monopoly would certainly damage the amount of income the company would make by a considerable degree."

Now that the trio knew what the problem was, Jiraiya brought up the next topic.

"As for the team..." Jiraiya began as he moved the left document above the middle one. "...that sent out the distress signal, here is the team leader's report along with their current biography."

"_Team Gai_, huh?" Naruto read the headline of the report.

He handed the report over to Shikamaru as he and Shino took a look at the team's photos and biographies.

"Whoa! Check out the eyebrows on this guy!" The blonde laughed as he held up the picture of the team's leader, Maito Gai.

"And here must be the runner up, Naruto." Shino added as he held up the picture of Rock Lee. Naruto snorted to hold back a raging laugh.

Jiraiya gave a short laugh while Yugao shook her head as she got ready to scold them.

"Naruto, Shino; while Gai may look... eccentric… that does not change the fact that he is one of the elite ninja in Konoha. The same goes for his team." Yugao stated as matter-of-fact.

"Oh, we know about that Yugao-sensei. Judging from his stats, he has the best taijutsu ability I've ever seen!"

"Not only that, Naruto. It seems like the entire team specializes in close quarter combat." Shino added as he was **review**ing the other two members of Team Gai; Neji Hyūga and Tenten.

"A Hyūga, huh?" Naruto and Shino began to discuss amongst themselves.

Shikamaru was reading through the report and furrowed his brow.

_'An escort mission is usually C-ranked, yet Gai marked this one as an A-ranked... how come?' _The Nara had already read when the team was ambushed early on their journey to Wave, but disregarded the tidbit. Ambushes during an escort mission should be expected, right?

Right.

He turned the page and nearly dropped the document all together. Shikamaru looked up at Jiraiya, who looked back at him. The old man snapped his fingers to materialize another file in his hand. He then handed it over to Shikamaru.

"Zabuza Momochi..." Shikamaru read out loud, catching the other's attention immediately.

As it turned out, Team Gai was ambushed twice in the first day of the mission. While the first ambush was nothing to worry out, the second was noteworthy for several reasons.

Zabuza Momochi, A.K.A Demon of the Hidden Mist and member of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, was the one responsible for the second ambush.

The report was excessively detailed; down to every punch, slash and word given. Towards the end of the battle, Gai was close to delivering the final blow, but was interrupted by a hunter-nin that took Zabuza's - supposedly - dead corpse to dispose of him elsewhere.

Considering how most hunter-nin usually dispose the body immediately after a kill, the fact that this particular one took the body away gave Gai enough reason to believe that Zabuza was not dead and he was definitely **not** working alone.

Shortly after the "hunter-nin" left with Zabuza, Gai collapsed due to his injuries and fatigue from the fight.

Shikamaru explained the report to his teammates over breakfast.

"So we're going to replace them?" Naruto asked as he wiped his mouth with a nearby napkin. The food had come - and gone - during Shikamaru's explanation of the report.

Jiraiya nodded. "Your mission is to take over as a relief team until the bridge is complete."

"Judging from the members of the team, they might not be too happy about having their mission taken away from them." Shino supplied as he looked over the files once again.

"That's to be expected. Their sensei got injured on a mission they were responsible for only to get it taken away? I would be displeased too." Yugao agreed from her end of the table.

A waitress came by and gave Jiraiya a refill, and a wink. The older man smiled, but yelped in pain as Yugao pinched his sides and told him to focus.

He nodded, slightly displeased with the way Yugao acted. "If a fight _does_ happen break out, be the better team and try to defuse the situation before it gets bloody..." He began, earning a surprised smile from Yugao.

"...but if a fight is unavoidable, try not to break them _too _much." The men of the table smirked while Yugao sighed.

The team chatted for another hour before they left the restaurant.

"Before I forget, someone will be joining you on your mission tomorrow." Jiraiya checked the time.

"Who is it, Jiraiya sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Considering Zabuza hides in mist before attacking, you will need someone with good coverage; a tracker. She goes by the name of Hana Inuzuka." Yugao replied. "She's a talented hunter-nin with exceptional abilities as a tracker."

"Oh, Hana-chan~! She's got it all; looks, legs, and curves in all the right places! Take note Yugao!" Jiraiya had the perverted look in his face once again as he, no doubt, was picturing the Inuzuka girl in one of his lewd fantasies.

Yugao pummeled Jiraiya onto the ground comically with a single fist.

The trio sweat dropped.

"Where do we... Yugao-sensei I think that's enough..." Naruto began, but stopped in order to interrupt the beat down.

He cleared his throat and tried again. "Where do we find her?"

Normally, teams would strategize together before a mission.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Naruto." Yugao said as she rubbed her fist clean. "There will be plenty of time to talk on the way to your destination."

They nodded before walking away after a farewell.

"Can you believe it has been six years, Jiraiya?" Yugao asked with nostalgia as both teachers watched the retreating forms of their students.

"Hard to believe, but yeah I do." Jiraiya placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Do you think they're ready for a mission like this?"

Jiraiya paused for a moment. "No..."

"?"

"I know they're ready."

**xxOxx**

The trio walked to the park where they first met and sat down on a bench. They were quiet.

After several seconds of silence, Naruto spoke up.

"We should probably get our equipment ready..."

"Yes...we should."

"Yeah, let's do that..."

They sighed, slightly nervous about the following day. They tugged at the hitai-ate around their necks before getting up from the bench. They looked at each once more before going their separate ways to their individual homes.

**xxOxx**

"Congratulations, Naruto-kun!" Rei welcomed her son home with a hug.

Keima looked at his son and patted his head. "I'm so proud of you, Naruto!"

Naruto smiled.

"We should celebrate!" Rei cheered as she pulled out a rather large bottle of sake from a cabinet.

"I actually have my first mission tomorrow morning, mom and dad..." Naruto explained as he grabbed the bottle and put it back into the cabinet.

"A mission so soon?" His parents asked simultaneously.

Naruto quickly informed them on his mission to Wave.

"I...see..." Rei mumbled as worry began to course through her.

Keima... Well he reacted differently.

"All right! My son is going up against someone so strong so early in life! Your mom and I will help you get prepared!" Keima gave a thumb up.

"H-Hai!" Naruto got caught up with his father's enthusiasm and gave a thumb up as well.

The rest of the day was spent getting everything prepared for Naruto's first mission.

**xxOxx**

Shikamaru was greeted at the doorstep to his house by his father.

"Look at you, wearing that hitai-ate like a real ninja." Shikaku congratulated his son proudly.

"Thanks dad. Listen, I need to tell you something." The younger Nara replied before he explained the mission he was embarking on the following morning.

Shikaku listened as he sat down next to his son. His mind was contemplating every detail given and came to the conclusion that his son and his friends were nervous.

With his arms crossed, Shikaku gave his son some fatherly input. "You, Naruto and Shino have been together for the past ten years and have been training under Jiraiya for the past six. As far as I'm concerned, if you three work together you'll be more than fine."

Shikamaru nodded at his father's words. Shikaku smiled and place a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Believe in your abilities, Shikamaru. Now come on, I'll help you prepare for tomorrow."

The two Nara men walked inside the house and let Yoshino know what's going on.

**xxOxx**

Shino was surrounded by the majority of his clan when he returned home; his clan was congratulating him in his successful graduation as a ninja of Konoha.

Shibi, Shino's father, was the last to congratulate the Aburame heir, but nonetheless had the most impact.

"I have a mission tomorrow, father." Shino told his father once they were alone in the main household.

Shibi stayed silent, allowing his son to explain what the mission was about. Pride began to fill inside the older Aburame when he heard who his son was going up against.

"Are you nervous?" Shibi asked his son. The older Aburame's words were carefully placed.

Shino shook his head slowly. A negative.

"To be nervous would mean I would be doubtful of my ability or those of my teammates. I am confident that we will be fine." Shino answered with several pauses scattered here and there.

"But to be against such a notorious ninja like Zabuza will certainly put your skills to the test, would it not?"

His father's words sank like a stone inside Shino's stomach.

"Perhaps..." Shino admitted his discomfort.

Shibi smiled. "It is natural to feel this way in the ninja world, but if you believe in your abilities and the one's of your teammates, then there is nothing to be afraid of."

Shino heeded his father's words and visibly relaxed.

"I am very proud of you son. The whole clan is." Shibi patted Shino's back reassuringly before leaving the younger Aburame's room.

Shino stayed silent in thought after his father left before he began to prepare for the day to come.

**The next morning...**

(Simultaneous perspective)

The seventeen year old woke up from his slumber, minutes before the alarm clock struck five in the morning. Looking outside the window in his room, he could faintly see his reflection thanks to the light post near his home.

Today was the day, he thought as he rubbed his left arm, the reflection on the window doing the same. His fingers brushed over the tattoo-like word inscribed in his arm.

The word appeared on his and his friend's arms several weeks ago; starting a research binge in the local library lasting more than several hours until they found the origin of the word.

Aeternum - Roughly translates to eternity; always, eternal and forever. This word stems from an ancient language - Latin.

He closed the shades on his window before turning on the lights to his room. He then finally noticed the new outfit hanging on the door knob.

He walked towards the door to examine the new pieces of clothing; obviously a congratulatory gift for becoming a ninja.

After a quick shower, the seventeen year old walked to his room and put on the outfit before examining himself in the mirror.

(Different perspective)

Naruto rubbed his eyes before he checked himself in the mirror.

The outfit was custom tailored for him, he noted as the clothing fit him perfectly; not too tight, but not too loose either.

Starting from the bottom up, on his feet he was now wearing a pair of black combat boots - a thick sole and custom grip underneath designed for both stealth and combat made the boots ninja approved.

Above his feet, he was now wearing a pair of black pants with two knife holsters placed along the waistline within arm's reach. The pants had two pouches on the back and four pockets in the front. He smiled at that, for his parents thought of about his proficiency with the sealing arts; he would have to place a storage seal in each pocket for easy access to his equipment. To finish, his pants had a thin wire frame in between the cloth that served as armor, but also prevented any decrease in flexibility and movement.

For his upper body, there were three pieces of clothing; from the innermost layer to the outermost one he wore the following items:

The innermost layer of clothing was a simple mesh shirt; composed of a thinly woven wire, this shirt was lightweight and breathable. Over the mesh shirt was a black, sleeveless vest composed of lightweight armor with two pouches on each breast. The pouch on the left breast had a red diamond intercepted by a white X in the center - his father's clan insignia - while the pouch on the right breast had the orange swirl design that Naruto's old jumpsuit had on the back. The outermost layer, above the vest, was a dark, thin jacket that fit snug around the blonde.

Naruto smiled at the reflection before he walked towards the door, where his parents were waiting with a proud smile.

"You look stunning, Naruto-kun..." Rei complimented her son, tears in her eyes. She placed her head on Keima's chest, who in turn, wrapped an arm around his wife's waist.

"Make us proud, Naruto." Keima smiled before enveloping their son into a tight hug.

Naruto nodded as he returned the hug.

After a heartfelt farewell, Naruto left towards the rendezvous point.

**xxOxx**

Shikamaru had just finished taking a shower when he began to change into the new outfit his parents had gotten for him. As he finished putting his hair into his regular style, he glanced at the mirror and looked himself over one more time. He had to admit, this was a new style for him.

The new outfit was designed to benefit Shikamaru's fighting style; long range.

On his feet, Shikamaru was now wearing a lighter version of Naruto's combat boots; reduced weight thanks to the thin sole underneath the boots. While Shikamaru's footwear lacked some of the grip that Naruto's had, it made up for it in terms of maneuverability.

Above his feet was a black pair of straight combat pants designed to cling onto the body to reduce air friction. The pants had several unique attachments to them that made Shikamaru mentally thank his parents. Along the waistline were several small flash bang canisters to be used when an enemy gets too close to him, potentially giving Shikamaru a chance to escape. On each pant leg there were two holsters for his ninja wire, allowing easy access to his tool of choice.

He was wearing two pieces of clothing for his upper body. A black tight-fit long sleeve shirt clung to Shikamaru, allowing for more comfortable strides in case he needed to dodge. Above that was the final piece of clothing; a dark duster coat that reached his ankles. The coat was the bulkiest item in the new outfit and served primarily as a way to shrug off some blows thanks to the padded armor it possessed. Shikamaru could tell this coat was to be used early in a fight but to be removed if the fight were to drag on or when the field of battle was under their control.

_'I'll have Naruto place my storage seals on this outfit to get my supplies...' _He made a mental note.

As he placed his forehead protector around his neck, he glanced over to the door and was surprised to see his parents there. More specifically, he was surprised to see his father awake. The man loved his sleep and it was rare to see him awake at this hour.

"Who are you and what have you done to my son?" Yoshino joked as she hugged her son in a tight embrace.

Shikamaru couldn't bring himself to roll his eyes. "Very funny, mom. Thank you guys for the new clothes..."

"Don't mention it." Shikaku replied. "...You're a ninja now; you might as well look the part too." He placed a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Be safe, okay, Shika-kun...?" Yoshino hugged her son even tighter.

The young Nara walked out if the house, his parents in the doorway on the porch. He turned, but did not say goodbye or a farewell.

"I'll see you soon, okay?"

The proud parents nodded as they saw their son walk into the darkness on the way to the rendezvous point.

**xxOxx**

Shino, now refreshed with the recent shower, eyed the new pieces of clothing with an interest gaze. As he began to clothe himself, he felt that, yes, he indeed liked the attire his father had chosen for him.

Gone was the usual, bulky overcoat the Aburame were known for and its place was a custom outfit for the heir of the clan.

Combat boots, black as the night sky, adorned his feet with a hidden blade inside the thick sole made sure Shino not to forget this handy tool.

To match the black boots, Shino was now wearing a pair of black baggy combat pants outfitted with multiple holsters, pouches and pockets. Three holsters in each pant leg - one for a kunai and the other two were for grenades. Along the beltline there were two medium canisters containing flares. Finally, the pants had several hundred concealed holes that served two purposes; for ventilation and as a way to release his kikaichū in a flash.

For his upper body, Shino now wore a black long-sleeve shirt that was slightly longer than it should have been – as it reached about an inch below the pants waistline – and the shirt too had several hundred holes for his kikaichū. Over the shirt was, without a doubt, Shino's favorite piece: a tactical ordinance vest tailored for explosive demolition. The vest reached towards the shoulders and closed all the way down through the chest through straps. The vest itself had five holsters on each side to hold flash grenades, stun grenades, paper bombs, incendiary grenades and standard explosives. Above the holsters were pouches to store more explosive ordinances and smoke bombs. On each shoulder was a single holster made for a blade to be used during close quarter engagements. While it may seem bulky, Shino was pleasantly surprised to discover how lightweight the vest was – even when it was fully loaded with ordinances.

To substitute the over coat that hid half of his face, Shino now wore a dark brown scarf that wrapped around his neck once – concealing everything on his face below the nose.

To top it all off, Shino now had a sleeker pair of sunglasses that were less bulky or goggle-like compared to his previous pair.

'_Now all I need is for Naruto to place my storage seals so I can obtain access to the rest of my gear…' _Shino thought to himself as he looked at his reflection in the mirror one last time.

His kikaichū had informed him of his father's presence earlier, so he was not surprised to see his father standing at the doorway.

"I assume you like the clothing?" Shibi asked a question he knew the answer to.

"I do, father." Shino nodded. "I have to thank you for getting such a gift for me."

"Do no such thing, Shino." Shibi placed a hand on Shino's shoulder. "You very well deserve this."

The two Aburame, father and son, exchanged words of gratitude to one another for a moment before it was time for Shino to depart.

"I will be waiting for your return, son." Shibi told his son from the doorstep.

Shino nodded as he lifted the scarf above his mouth, under his nose, before he made his way to the rendezvous point.

**Front gates of Konoha**

"I hope they don't get here late." Hana Inuzuka, hunter-nin of Konoha, muttered with a mixture of concern and agitation as she scratched the head of one of her dogs.

The Inuzuka, known – and feared – for their animalistic ferocity and tracking abilities, were more often than not accompanied by a canine. These dogs are raised from pups to be able to fight alongside ninja, and thus earned the name of nin-dogs.

The other two dogs beside Hana whined, wanting attention as well.

While most Inuzuka had at least one canine companion, Hana was special as she had not one, _not two_, but three under her command. These triplets are known as the Three Haimaru Brothers. The three dogs fought playfully to see who gets attention from Hana next.

Speaking of Hana, her looks are noteworthy.

Having long brown hair tied into a ponytail – with two locks of hair framing her face – and having large black eyes made Hana a pretty sight to see. Her lips were tinged a light shade from her lipstick contrasted with the fang-like tattoos of her clan on her cheeks.

As for her attire, Hana wore the standard black hunter-class vest, exposing her shoulders and arms. She wore the vest unzipped, exposing some impressive cleavage; underneath the vest she wore a simple black shirt. For her lower body, Hana wore a pair of form fitting shorts cut just above the knee. The standard ninja sandals adorned her feet.

As far as looks went, Hana was a beauty.

A beauty that could track down a man before brutally removing his head from his body within several seconds, but a beauty nonetheless.

As for her current mood, Hana would justify, was due to the fact that she was paired up with three nobodies whose skills were not known.

They were going up against Zabuza freakin' Momochi for Kami's sake; a ruthless killer, and she was paired up with potential scrubs?

She had the right to be concerned.

And a little pissed.

One of the brothers stood up on all fours before barking once, signaling Hana to the arrival of the mysterious team. She looked up and furrowed her brow in thought.

"They at least _look_ capable…" She thought out loud when she saw them over.

"That's not very nice, Inuzuka-san. You don't even know us yet." Naruto replied with mock-pain.

Hana, noticing that she said her first thought out loud, widened her eyes before shaking her head,

"Sorry, sorry about that. Just thinking out loud I guess." She shrugged.

Shikamaru sighed. "Good to know your first thoughts on us, Inuzuka. I have my own first thoughts on _you_ now, y'know?" He rolled his eyes.

Hana raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? What are you trying to say?" She challenged as she exposed a fang.

"Unreliable, pessimistic, annoying…" He stopped himself from smirking when she held back a growl. "…and has a bit of an anger problem. I have more if you want to hear them." He mocked with his arms crossed.

"Why you-!" Hana growled before Shikamaru shrugged.

"_Sorry, sorry about that. Just thinking out loud I guess."_ Shikamaru retorted.

"Oi, Shikamaru…" Naruto scolded his friend.

'_Shikamaru, eh?' _Hana made sure to only think this time. _'I hate him already.' _She refused to let her family urges to show up now as she visibly calmed down.

"Oh?" Shikamaru tilted his head as Hana calmed herself. "Maybe I was wrong about the anger problem?" His tone was dripping with sarcasm.

As for Shikamaru, he was playing a feint at the moment. He needed to evaluate the person who will be with his team on this mission, so he decided to test the Inuzuka. After all, The Inuzuka are known for their short tempers and having one doing rash decisions could cost someone their life on this mission.

The Three Haimaru Brothers growled at the Nara while showing their fangs. He would be lying if he said he wasn't startled at that point, but he held his ground.

Hana glared at Shikamaru and vice versa. Their stares almost formed electricity they were so intense.

Shino stepped in. "Perhaps we should get moving?" The Aburame broke the staring contest, much to Naruto's relief.

Hana pushed her irritation away for the moment. "I agree, but first things first. My name is Hana Inuzuka, hunter-nin and tracker specialist. These three nin-dogs are my companions." She knelt down and scratched the heads of the trio. She introduced herself and was glad to see a response.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, close-range specialist, alchemist and fūinjutsu enthusiast. Pleased to meet you, Inuzuka-san." The blonde introduced himself with a short bow.

"Greeting Inuzuka-san, my name is Shino Aburame; medium-range fighter and demolition specialist."

The two members looked at Shikamaru, who then sighed.

"The name is Shikamaru Nara, long-range fighter-"

"Let's move out." Hana rudely interrupted the Nara as she and her dogs walked out of the village.

Shikamaru looked at his friends before raising his hands and shrugged. Shino let out a fast breath that could be considered an amused laugh. Naruto rolled his eyes but nonetheless laughed.

Before the trio walked out the gates, Naruto placed a paper on to the ground where it then blended on the spot, disappearing from sight. The blonde looked at his friends before nodding simultaneously.

They soon followed the hunter-nin down the road.

"So, Inuzuka-san…" Naruto began as the group took a running start down the path.

"You can call me Hana, Naruto-kun." Hana cut in.

Naruto paused for a bit, but nodded. "As I was saying… Perhaps we should strategize, don't you think so Hana…senpai?" Naruto felt it was odd calling her name by itself, so he added the honorific at the last second.

Hana let out a small laugh. "Senpai? I'm only nineteen!" She smiled. "But I think you're right, Naruto-kun. We should strategize."

"Inuzuka-san-"

"Please call me Hana, Shino-kun. I was never too fond of honorifics." She cut in once again.

"…Hana-senpai, then… You know of Zabuza, correct?" At her nod, he continued. "What is your opinion on engaging him?" Shino asked as he ran alongside her.

She tilted her head. "That sword of his proves to be the biggest threat. Fighting him up close and personal is right out of the question, but if we try and fight at a distance he could set up the mist and that would prove difficult to counter as well." Hana placed her thought out in the open.

"Well then, Hana, how about-"

"Oi, I don't remember giving _you_ permission to use my first name." Hana interrupted Shikamaru once again. The Nara was behind her, and her dogs were to his left, right and behind him; effectively closing him off.

He didn't let that stop him. "As I was saying, our first priority is getting rid of that sword of his, correct?"

She scoffed. "And how do we do that, Nara?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "If you would have let me finish the first time, you would have found out that my specialty is setting up traps with ninja wire. When he's closed off from all sides, he'll be a sitting duck for my shadow possession jutsu. When he's under my control it'll be goodbye to that sword of his."

"He's not an idiot, so I seriously doubt he'll let himself get trapped, y'know." She replied with a tone.

Shikamaru began to grind his teeth.

Damn this woman!

Shikamaru sighed to let out some steam. Naruto stopped to place another paper onto the ground; repeating the same process from the gates of the village. This caught the Inuzuka's attention.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" Hana asked the blonde several minutes later. The blonde had taken to leaving formation every few hundred feet for several seconds before coming back into position to repeat the process. He had been doing this for the past half hour, peaking Hana's interest in what he was doing.

Naruto looked at his friends, who just shrugged in response. _'Guess there's no harm in letting her know.' _He thought.

"I'm setting up some transportation seals on the ground every two hundred feet."

"Oh really? How come?" Hana seemed interested.

"Our gear is stored back home and with these we will be able to move our supplies to my storage seals." A white lie, some things were better left unsaid, after all.

"Most ninja use scrolls to store their equipment, y'know. Wouldn't it be quicker that way?" She countered.

"I see your point, but we never did fancy lugging around a huge scroll for our supplies." Naruto shrugged as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch.

"I see…" She replied curtly, backing off on the subject.

The group was making fast progress towards Wave, meaning if they kept going at the pace they were at, they would reach their destination by noon. While the travel went by smoothly, the opposite could be said about the tension surrounding the group.

Hana would deliberately go out of her way to sass the living hell out of Shikamaru, only to get the same treatment from the Nara vice versa. This bothered Naruto and Shino, for they had never seen their friend act so cold or bothersome before, nor had they seen such a violent reaction occur by anybody other than Yugao when Jiraiya would do something perverted. Was the rest of the mission going to be this way? The two boys glanced at each other and found out that they were thinking the same thing.

"Oi Hana, any reason your dogs keep boxing me in right behind you?" Shikamaru complained.

"They probably think you're an idiot who would get lost if you were on your own!" Hana laughed mockingly.

Shikamaru cursed as he pinched his nose. "Well it smells like mutt all around me, but since I'm downwind from _you _it wouldn't be fair to blame _them_, now would it?"

Hana stopped immediately in her tracks causing Shikamaru to do the same. She turned around and snarled, her dogs doing the same. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, but could tell he was in a bad spot; he was surrounded by four snarling creatures that were not too happy with him at the moment. He crossed his arms defiantly.

"Okay, listen here punk…" Hana closed the already small distance between them before jabbing his chest with a clawed finger. "…_I'm _the Alpha here. _I'm _in command of this operation from this point on; because your fucking behavior convinced me you're nothing but a goddamn idiot, understand? You _will_ listen to me, do what _I _say _when _I say and that will be the end of it, got it?" She growled, face to face with the Nara.

Oh boy, the things Shikamaru could do right now. The Nara stood his ground and was already choosing his words for the next couple of minutes, but behind Hana he saw Naruto shaking his head; advising him to stop before it gets any worse.

"I expect an answer, Nara…" Hana growled menacingly. Her dogs were hunched and ready to jump at a moment's notice.

He narrowed his eyes before gently swatting her finger away from his chest. "Yes, ma'am." His tone was not one of defeat, but it was not a happy one either.

Hana stepped back, let the snarl on her face turn into a frown, and turned around. "Then let's move out. Nara, stay close to me, got it? No further than five feet away." She ordered. Her dogs growled, as if to get Shikamaru to follow her orders.

Shikamaru turned to his teammates and sighed before getting into position to the right of the Inuzuka. Naruto sighed in relief while Shino relaxed.

Shikamaru had to swallow his pride just to make the rest of this mission go by as smoothly as possible.

'_You guys owe me one so bad.' _Shikamaru thought with exasperation.

For the next couple of hours, Shikamaru had taken the habit of keeping his mouth shut by grinding his teeth. Hana had begun to _baby_ him.

"_Oi Nara, don't trip on that rock." _

"_Oi Nara, what did I say earlier? Stay. Close." _

"_Oi Nara, I don't remember giving you permission to talk."_

God.

Fucking.

Damn.

Shikamaru attempted to calm down by breathing.

"_Oi Nara, why are you breathing so hard? Tired already?"_

He then tried to pop his fingers to calm down.

"_Oi Nara, stop that. You might get hurt.' _

He then _silently _wondered if suicide was acceptable at this point.

"_Oi Nara, don't think like that. It's worrisome if you do."_

He then tried nothing. Nothing at all, just silence. No loud breathing, no popping joints, nothing.

He did…nothing… for about a minute before she patted his head with her right hand.

"Was that so hard, Shikamaru-kun?" She patted his head several times.

He would never admit that it felt nice that she finally said his first name. He silently wondered if he were to stay quiet she would it again. He seemed excited at the thought. Like when a dog…gets a…treat.

"I'm not a dog, dammit!" Shikamaru yelled as he swatted the hand away from his head. His eye twitched from discovering her plan.

"And it was going along so well, too…" Hana mumbled.

Naruto and Shino hoped they would last until they reached Wave.

**xxOxx**

**Several hours later…**

Much to Naruto and Shino's relief, Hana had stopped with the "dog training" – as she called it – but continued to enforce the distance rule until they finally arrived at Wave in the afternoon.

Wave was not what the trio expected it to be in all honesty. The little village was supposed to be a trading paradise – yet it looked run down and abandoned if any of the beggars and homeless had anything to say about it. In the first couple of minutes of being in the village, the group had already caught several pickpockets – mostly children – attempting to rob them of their loot. With a stern scold, the group sent the children away.

"What a depressing place." Shino commented as they walked towards the center of the village.

"Pretty sad, right?" Hana added. "This place used to be different, from what I've heard at least."

Hana then explained a crash history lesson on the Land of Waves. As it turned out, this place used to be luxurious – economically speaking. Massive amounts of trade from around the known world happened here thanks to its location, making the people here wealthy and happy. But that was before a certain corporation came and monopolized the area, shut down the harbors and in doing so, eradicated most of the village's income; causing it to go under a spiraling depression.

The corporation responsible for all this was known as **Gatō's Company**, a multi-billionaire shipping and trade organization. The company was named after the man who owned the company; Gatō, a corrupt, greedy business man who uses brute force – in the shape of mercenaries he hires – to get his way. No doubt illegal activities were being done behind the cover of a shipping company, but that was not the trio's concern for the moment.

The information Hana provided was somewhat trivial for the trio since they had already informed themselves earlier in the morning, but they at least were able to confirm why Tazuna was being targeted; a bridge would open land trading routes for Wave while simultaneously hurting Gatō's business.

"So what do we do now, Hana-senpai?" Naruto asked as he kicked a can into an alley nearby. "Do we find Team Gai to relief them of their duty, or should we wait?"

Hana looked around before replying. "More than likely Team Gai is with Tazuna right now. I think telling them now could result in violence, considering that Gai is still recuperating in Tazuna's home."

"So we will have to wait." Shino concluded, to which Hana nodded.

"That's right. Anyways…" Hana began by grabbing Shikamaru's ear.

"Ow! What the hell are you doing?!" The Nara complained from the tugging.

"…We're off to scout the area nearby for anything suspicious. Meet back here tonight, understood?" Naruto and Shino nodded. "Come on Nara, let's get a move on." She tugged harder on Shikamaru's ear, pulling him along.

"Agh, guys help me out!" He called out. Naruto waved awkwardly as did Shino.

Once Hana and her posse had left the area, Naruto chuckled. "You didn't have to be such a dick to her Shikamaru. I'm pretty sure she hates you." Naruto said out loud before the real Shikamaru appeared from the alley where Naruto kicked the can earlier. Shikamaru had made a clone during the time Hana was talking about the history of Wave and switched places with it without getting caught.

"I really don't care at the moment, Naruto." He groaned. "Can you set up my storages seals on my clothes?" Shikamaru sighed, a headache returning back to him.

"And while you are at it, Naruto, could you do mine as well?" Shino agreed.

The blonde nodded as he opened the right pouch on the back of his pants, revealing several dozen seals. The setup was simple when it came to placing the storage seals on clothing. All Naruto had to do was press the seal on the desired spot and bound both – seal and spot – together using chakra. From then on, the seal would be permanently infused with the clothing.

For Shino, Naruto placed a total of thirty-six storage seals containing the Aburame's surplus amount of equipment. Ten on each arm sleeve, one on each of the insides of the shirt's sleeves – parallel to his wrists – and the rest were scattered on his lower body.

As for Shikamaru, a total of twenty-eight seals were placed around his clothing. Four seals went on each pant leg right next to the ninja wire holsters, five were placed on the outside of his coat – two on the chest, two on each pocket and the last one was underneath the neck collar of the coat. The rest of the seals were spread amongst the sleeves of his shirt in similar style to those of Shino's.

Naruto had a fair amount of seals on his clothing – about twelve. Four of them were used for his pockets – one for each pocket – and two were used for the pouches on the back of his pants – one for each pouch. The other six were dotted across his arms and chest areas.

Once the trio had their storage seals back in their place, they sat down on a bench where they decided on the next objective.

The center of the village was just about empty – despite it being early in the afternoon.

"I guess we could begin placing them now." Naruto suggested.

Shino nodded. "There is not much else we can do at the moment."

"Let's get it over and done with, then." Shikamaru nodded.

Naruto removed his hitai-ate from around his neck and placed a hand on the fabric on the backside of it.

A seal Naruto had placed the night before began to glow as three compressed stacks of paper popped out. Naruto handed his friends a stack each.

Naruto removed a single piece of paper from the stack and placed it onto the ground beneath them, where it flashed a faint light once before disappearing. Naruto looked at his friends.

"Let's cover the majority of this island to be safe. Remember, ninety feet of one another." The blonde explained as several dozen clones were created to divide the work.

These seals were Naruto's pride and joy, the result of two years of research, practice and dedication.

Teleportation seals.

These babies were modeled after the Yondaime's own designed that earned him the title "Yellow Flash" during the war. While the Yondaime's original design was _far _too advanced for Naruto to try and mimic, the blonde created the next best thing. You see, the Yondaime's design allowed him to teleport _wherever_ the seal was, _regardless_ of distance; while Naruto's design, on the other hand, allowed for the same teleportation but only within one hundred feet of the closest seal. For example, a seal would create a circle – hypothetically speaking – with a radius of one hundred feet around the seal, meaning that Naruto, Shino and Shikamaru could teleport wherever they wanted within that radius. Now, the trio was placing the seals within ninety feet of each other, what that means is that the teleportation radius' would interconnect, allowing for instant teleportation _anywhere_ they chose to in the village.

Naruto had been mass producing these seals for the past two weeks using clones, and now was the time to use them.

For the entirety of the afternoon until sun down, the trio had been busy coating the entire village with the teleportation seals.

**xxOxx**

**Nightfall, center of the village…**

Shikamaru chuckled.

"What's so funny, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked with a small smile on his lips.

"My clone dispelled itself in front of the Inuzuka in the best way possible." He laughed once more.

"How so?" Shino was now interested.

"He…" Shikamaru chuckled. "He jumped away from her and yelled 'I can't deal with this anymore!' before stabbing himself in the throat with a kunai." He laughed once again. "Her shocked expression was hilarious!"

Naruto laughed. "That's fucked up, Shikamaru."

"I agree." Shino shrugged, but still had an amused tone.

"Nara you bastard!" Hana yelled as she came running from the rooftops. She pounced from the nearest rooftop but missed when Shikamaru rolled out of the way.

"What?" Shikamaru replied. "You were done scouting and my clone had enough." He tried to rationalize, but his words didn't even sound convincing.

"That scared the hell out of me, bastard!" She swiped at him, but he dodged a second before she made contact.

Naruto and Shino instantly got into a defensive position in front of Shikamaru.

"That was an attack, if I ever saw one Inuzuka-san." Shino warned as his kikaichū appeared on his hands.

"Calm down, Hana-senpai." Naruto warned as well.

In the ninja world, there were two types of attacks, the serious ones that cause physical damage and the not so serious ones that look painful but are not – usually from a female punishing her male friends for when they do something stupid. There was a not-so thin line between an attack and a friendly attack, but most males can tell the difference.

Hana was aiming to seriously hurt Shikamaru.

"Are you kidding me?! A couple of brats like you won't even stand a chance against my companions!" Hana growled, her family urges finally kicking in.

"Only one way to find out." Shino challenged.

"Step down, Hana-senpai!" Naruto tried to defuse the situation.

"Sic 'em!" Hana pointed a finger towards the trio, causing her dogs to charge right at them.

Naruto and Shino got into a fighting position as the Haimaru brothers closed in, Hana right behind them.

"Hana-senpai, stay down!" Naruto warned for the last time as he made the proper hand signs for a jutsu. He inhaled.

Naruto and Shino were face to face with an angry Inuzuka and her dogs when they found out they couldn't move.

Shikamaru was behind them, his shadow outstretched towards them. "Shadow possession; success." He said as he relaxed.

Hana and her dogs were stuck in place several inches away from Naruto and Shino.

"Damn, that escalated too freaking quickly, don't you guys think so?" Shikamaru joked. Naruto and Shino were then released from Shikamaru's jutsu.

Naruto was tense but soon relaxed. "Yeah, I guess it did." He tried to laugh but couldn't bring himself to it.

Shino shook his head.

"W-What are you doing?!" Hana muttered through clenched teeth as she tried to fight the jutsu.

"You tried to attack me, and my teammates defended me, but before you guys fought I stopped you." Shikamaru did a small, unnecessary recap.

"You stupid mother-"

"Calm down, Hana. If you don't I'll be forced to knock you out." Shikamaru cut in as he sat down before the frozen Inuzuka.

Hana was growling in irritation.

"I'm sorry."

Hana was surprised at the sudden apology.

Shikamaru realized this went on for too long and decided to take responsibility.

"The reason I have been acting this way – like an asshole, I mean – is because I needed to find out whether you were going to be a hindrance on this mission or a helpful hand." He explained. "This is my team's first mission and it's up against Zabuza Momochi, I couldn't take a risk and instantly trust you."

"C-Cause of my f-family…" She muttered.

"Unfortunately that seems to be the case." Shikamaru nodded. "It was an unfair assumption that you were like the rest of your family, but I needed to find out."

He slowly began to let his jutsu release the Inuzuka.

"And I guess you have your answer, huh?" Hana sighed. She let her family urges take over; something she truly disliked.

"It was my fault you got this angry in the first place, so you're not the only one wrong here." The Nara admitted with a shrug. He got up from his seated position.

"As far as things go, I think I can trust you."

Hana looked up at the boy with confusion.

"What?"

"You lasted an entire day with me being an ass, and I guess that has to be pretty impressive for an Inuzuka."

Hana stayed silent before Shikamaru shrugged and looked around. Several people had gathered due to all the noise.

"How about we all pretend that this particular standoff never happened?" Shikamaru looked at his friends, Naruto nodded immediately while Shino took a moment to agree. Hana sighed.

"There usually aren't any second chances in the ninja world, Nara."

"Then be glad you have this one, Inuzuka." Shikamaru offered his hand. "Water under the bridge?"

Hana looked at his hand for a moment before accepting it with her own. "Fine, but that doesn't change the fact that you are a disrespectful prick."

"And it doesn't change the fact that you are a nagging woman with an anger problem." Shikamaru retorted, the pressure from their handshake could break diamond as they glared at one another.

"Did anything even change between those two?" Naruto sighed as he face-palmed.

"Probably not." Shino added.

After that, the group decided it was time for them to make an appearance in Tazuna's home.

As they walked to the house, Naruto tried to make conversation. "How do you think the team will react to us showing up, Hana-senpai?"

"Hard to say. I'd like to say they'll act professional and back down willingly, but not _all_ ninja are like that." The Inuzuka tilted her head towards Shikamaru as she said that.

"I don't even have to look to know that you're using me as an example, Inuzuka." Shikamaru grumbled.

Before the two could argue, the group arrived at Tazuna's doorstep.

"Let me handle this, okay?" Hana knocked on the door.

Several seconds passed before a young woman answered the door. "Hello? Who might you be?" The woman asked, partly behind the wooden door.

"Good evening, we're sorry to interrupt but we would like to have a moment with the team currently protecting Tazuna." Seeing the increasing suspicion across the woman's face, Hana motioned to her hitai-ate. "There's no need to worry, miss. We too are from Konoha, simply here to discuss the current mission with the team."

The woman sighed with relief before fully opening the door.

"Then please, come on in, we're in the middle of dinner. Would you care to join us?" She kindly offered.

Hana was _this_ close to politely declining the offer when a stomach began to grumble loudly.

"_Hana-senpai!"_ Shikamaru took the opportunity to make fun of the girl. "You shouldn't be so modest if you're _that_ hungry!" He patted the older girl's back. "We would love to join you for dinner, miss…"

"Oh, you can call me Tsunami."

"…Tsunami-san, then. We would be happy to join." The Nara finished as he walked past an embarrassed Inuzuka. "Come now, Inuzuka. Let's go eat." The smirk never left his face.

Naruto laughed nervously as he walked in next, embarrassed by the fact that it was _his_ stomach that grumbled. Shino walked in behind the blonde, his grin hidden behind his scarf.

Tsunami looked at Hana with a sympathetic smile, brightening the blush on Hana's face. "It must be difficult everywhere, I suppose. Come in, Inuzuka-san, let's sate that appetite, hm?" She grabbed the Inuzuka by the hand and pulled her inside the house.

Once inside the home, the group walked towards the dining room, catching the attention of those seated. Shino scanned the area. Gai was seated on the far left, his student Rock Lee was seated to the left of his sensei, followed by a small boy on Lee's left, to the left of the small boy was Tenten and to _her _left was Neji Hyūga – who was seated to the right of Tazuna.

"Good evening." Hana greeted the table, but got no response for the moment.

"Who…who are you guys?" Tenten placed her chopsticks down to get a better look of the group before her.

"We're…" Hana began but was cut off.

"We are the relief team that will be taking your place in this mission. Nice to meet you." Shikamaru's blunt honesty made everyone's – except for Gai's – jaw drop.

Naruto sighed.

Shino shrugged.

The trio walked past the utterly stunned Inuzuka before sitting themselves down at the table. They picked up a pair of chopsticks before simultaneously speaking.

"Itadakimasu."

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

**This is where the story officially begins in terms of plot advancement! Are you guys excited to see how the team fights? How do you guys think the story is going so far? Questions, comments, concerns? ****Please**** leave a review and let me know!**

**Thank you for reading, and as always, have a good day.**

**-TheRedGhillie**

**P.S **

**Omake ahead! :)**

The pervy sage and his three assistants!

* * *

"No, no, no! You have it all wrong!" Jiraiya scolded his fifteen year old students.

"What did we do wrong, _Jiraiya-sama?_" Naruko – Naruto's bikini clad female form – asked seductively, her impressive breasts slightly lifted with every tired breath.

"That's the problem!" Jiraiya scolded his student – despite having a nosebleed. "This new character is _not_ slutty!"

"D-Don't yell at Naruko-chan like that, J-Jiraiya-sama!" Shikimaru – Shikamaru's scantily clad female form – defended her friend as she hugged her, their breasts rubbing together from the close proximity.

"Shikimaru-chan, I…" Naruko blushed heavily.

Jiraiya dropped on the floor as a stream of blood escaped from his nose. He recovered quickly, however. "No, this still isn't right!"

He paced in front of his students. "This character is cute, innocent and pure with the right amount of sex appeal to attract a new range of customers!" Jiraiya had asked his students – who had just learned a new technique for pranking – to be his assistants in finding a new character for his books.

Jiraiya paced once more before noticing Shino standing there normally. "Shino? Why haven't you transformed yet?" The older man asked the Aburame.

Shino kicked a pebble on the ground, causing it to skid a few feet. "It is quite embarrassing, Jiraiya-sensei…"He admitted after a moment's pause.

Naruko quickly stood up before jabbing Shino's chest with a finger. "Damn right it is, Shino! We did it, but you haven't! How is that fair?!" Naruko growled. Shikimaru agreed with a curt nod of her head.

Shino sighed. They were right, Shino thought, what kind of friend would he be if he didn't join them in their embarrassment now?

He made the hand sign necessary for the transformation. He inhaled before he was enveloped in a white smoke. As the smoke cleared, Shino was no more; in his place stood Shiko, his female form. Wearing a form fitting version of the regular Aburame coat that just barely covered about an inch below the hips – and not much else – Shiko pulled her coat downwards as if to try and hide her nice long legs. Her hair was different from her male form, as it was long and wavy and reached to her back. The coat was zipped up, but managed to give the shape of her breasts – a decent B-cup. To complete the innocent look, Shiko was wearing striped panties that could only be slightly seen from the right angle.

"D-D-Don't l-look, J-J-Jiraiya-sama…!" Shiko stuttered in pure embarrassment, as she wiggled her legs in an attempt to disappear.

Naruko let out a shrill "Kyaaa!" before glomping Shiko. Shikimaru couldn't help but do the same.

And as for Jiraiya, you may ask?

He was on the ground.

Bleeding profusely.

Leaving a large pool of blood around his unconscious form.

The trio looked at their sensei before dispelling the transformation.

"Speak of this to no one." Shino threatened before walking away.

Naruto and Shikamaru couldn't help but laugh out loud before following the Aburame.

"You're so cute, Shiko-chan!"

Omake end


	5. Animosity

**Team Aeternum: From Heaven to Hell**

**Chapter 5: Animosity**

**I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Chapter Start

* * *

Making – and breaking, some might add – glass is an intricate art form. One cannot add too much heat, in fear of the final product shattering immediately, while keeping in mind that too little flame will not allow the glass to harden – only making a mess in the long run.

The same way of making – and breaking – glass could be used in everyday life as well. You see, human concepts are a lot like glass in terms of frailty under heat and clarity under a cool flame; too much heat will shatter a person's concept of something they expect, while not enough heat will only cloud the judgment of human concept.

There has to be a balance; an equilibrium, if you will, to get the strongest glass with the perfect clarity.

In layman's terms a perfect example would be: a child has a toy and it plays with the toy every day; clearly showing a possessive animosity towards it. Suddenly taking that toy away would make the child cry more often than not; too much heat. Alternatively, if the child were to break the toy, cry, and then get another one, the child would soon learn to cry to get another one. If this continues, the child would forego the value of the toy because the child would need to cry to get another one, right? That is the child's clouded concept due to no consequences for its actions – along with the parent's in all honesty; too little heat.

Finding the balance is difficult, sure, but the results are worth it.

How does this relate to the current events, you may ask?

Well, you see, when Shikamaru bluntly replied that Team Gai was going to be replaced on this mission, it was as equivalent as dousing a glass shard with napalm before setting it ablaze with a flamethrower for an hour.

He didn't explain why, he didn't take their feelings into consideration, he did not use tact.

In short; too much heat. _Way _too much heat.

Team Gai's concept of ownership of this mission was shattered immediately and was now left with broken pieces.

"W…What did you say?" It was Tenten who reacted first; mostly because she failed to understand what was going on.

Shikamaru didn't reply, instead he continued to eat at a nice, relaxed pace. The Nara was not fond of repeating himself, so he let one of his friends take over from here.

When something breaks, there is no getting it back to its original shape or value; it is what it is – broken. Naruto and Shino knew this, with the only difference being that Naruto would attempt to glue it back together, while Shino would rather toss it out. Naruto cared, but still understood the situation while Shino had a more honest point of view.

"As he said, we are here to replace your team for the rest of the mission." Shino replied curtly as he set his pair of chopsticks down. "As of right now, Team Gai is relieved of their mission in Wave." The Aburame finished.

Tenten winced from the second consecutive blunt reply. "B-But that doesn't make any sense! Why would we need a relief team here?" The bun haired girl looked to her sensei for clarification.

There was a sudden silence for a moment. The trio stopped eating before looking at each other. They then looked at Gai.

"You don't know?" Naruto asked as he wiped his face with a napkin.

"Know what?" Neji narrowed his eyes.

"The reason we're here is because the village received a distressed signal coming from your team two days ago." The blonde explained. Team Gai nodded, as if telling Naruto to continue.

"…No, that's about it, really."

At that point, Lee, Tenten and Neji slowly – and I mean _slowly_ – turned their heads towards their sensei, who despite all the pain, attempted to crawl away into the safety of the bedroom he slept in.

"Gai-sensei!"

Gai turned around, a face of sadness and shame greeted them.

"I can explain…" And so he did.

Shortly after the battle with Zabuza, Gai had collapsed in what he would describe as "a most unyouthful side effect" of his techniques and injuries. Through sheer "youthful willpower" Gai managed to write the report before sending it off via messenger hawk – the distress signal. The damage done to his body wasn't anything too severe, but thanks to those injuries his ability to fight would be hampered for at least one week. Not wanting to fail a mission he deemed "inspirational" – Tazuna's dedication to finish the bridge to save his village deeply moved Gai – he did not hesitate to call for help just in case.

Gai admitted that this was a difficult decision to make since he believed in his student's abilities, but as a Jōnin, he had to alert the village. Gai had been planning on telling his students at some point, but he had not expected for the relief team to arrive so early.

The trio listened intently to Gai's words and confirmed that he was, indeed, without a shadow of a doubt, "eccentric" – as Yugao had put it. Hell, the man had said the word "youth" at least twenty times since he begun talking, and his green spandex made Gai the embodiment of the word eccentric.

Gai was in the middle of apologizing to his students for the 68th time when Hana came up behind the trio and slammed Shikamaru's head against the wooden table.

The Nara did not look fazed, but instead donned a straight face.

"I suppose I deserve that, Inuzuka." He admitted.

"Damn right you do, jackass! I said _I _would handle it!" She pressed her hand harder against his head, making the wooden table splinter in the process. The straight face Shikamaru had stayed the same though.

"I'm assuming 'Just to spite you' isn't a good enough reason –" Shikamaru retorted before his head went through the table at the amount of force Hana's hand used.

Hana growled out in exasperation.

Naruto and Shino resumed eating as if all was normal around them.

Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari – the young boy – simply looked on in confusion.

"Ninjas are really weird…" Inari whispered.

"That they are, my boy… that they are." Tazuna replied as he picked up a cup of sake before downing it. Tsunami had to agree with him.

~ xxOxx ~

Eventually, everything calmed down and the ninjas moved the conversation outside on the dock behind the house as to not disturb the family. Gai had to move with the help of a crutch in one arm and Lee's shoulder in the other. Currently, the two teams were conversing in separate groups. Naruto was talking with Gai and Lee, Shikamaru was being "nagged" on by Hana - Neji was there too conversing when they were not arguing - while Shino "talked" with Tenten - nodding where appropriate and the like.

"How bad does it hurt, Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked as he checked the older man. He didn't seem to have any external wounds from what Naruto could tell.

"It's nothing to worry about, Naruto-kun!" Gai said energetically. "Just a couple days of resting are all I need!" He stuck a thumb up, but winced from the action.

Lee had a certain look in his eyes. Naruto placed it under "admiration". "Gai-sensei, you're so cool!"

Naruto placed a hand over his chest - over a seal - before removing two little red bottles. "I could help with your recovery, Gai-sensei." He said as he held the bottles outwards.

"Oh? And what would these be, Naruto-kun?" Lee eyed the bottles curiously.

"These little babies are health potions." Naruto said simply.

"..." Lee looked confused.

Naruto smiled slightly. "When ingested, the potion increases the repair of any damaged tissues by increasing the amount of blood cells in the body, thus healing any kind of wound."

"...?" Lee smiled but still looked confused.

"It... It makes your body feel good." Naruto explained slowly.

Lee went wide eyed. "Oh! That sounds most excellent!" He grabbed the bottles from the blonde's hands. "Here you go, Gai-sensei!"

Gai looked at the bottles quizzically before putting them in his pockets. "I thank you for your concern, Naruto-kun, but I think I shall save them for another day. After all, I could use this pain as conditioning!"

Lee praised his sensei as Naruto laughed awkwardly.

"Okay..."

Leaning against the small shack just a couple of feet away from his sensei was Neji, with Shikamaru sitting down in front of him - the Nara's legs dangling off the edge of the dock - and the Inuzuka standing next to the Nara. Her dogs flanked Shikamaru from all sides.

"I don't see why you're so pissed off, Inuzuka. It worked out fine in the end, didn't it?" Shikamaru sighed as he crossed his arms - more than a little irritated to his close proximity with Hana's canine friends.

Hana let one of her sharpened claw-like nails skim through the surface of one of the vertical logs that composed the dock. Her nail easily carved into the wood, digging into it as she made a straight line across.

"What kind of world do you live in, baka? The way you put it seemed more like they failed the mission and we were here to clean up the mess!" She growled out once more before sighing. She glanced at the Hyūga before shaking her head again.

"I apologize once more, Hyūga-san."

Neji didn't answer. He _did _believe that she was right, however. Neji could not accept that his team was getting replaced and would refuse the action from happening.

By force, if need be.

To add to that, the Hyūga was more than a little displeased at the Nara at the moment.

There is such a thing as tact, after all. Yet the Nara disregarded the notion completely. By Neji's point of view, the Nara was his team's priority enemy.

"I live in the ninja world, Inuzuka. What's the point of sugar coating anything in a world where we have to follow the orders given to us?" Shikamaru countered. He then tried to move one of the brother's head away from his lap, but failed to do so.

"Hn." Neji couldn't help but agree with the Nara at that statement, for it was true. Neji could care less if he were called a hypocrite right then and there; if the circumstances were swapped, he would have said something similar to Shikamaru's words - maybe even worse.

Maybe he wasn't so bad, Neji thought as the Nara clearly understood the line between being a professional and being polite.

The Nara may know the difference between the two, but still ignored both and ended up being an ass for it.

Neji smirked internally.

"Oi, Inuzuka! Get your _delightful _dogs away from me!" Shikamaru rolled his eyes as the third and final brother took a nap against Shikamaru's back. The other two rested on his laps.

"They're just tired, Nara. Give 'em a couple of hours and they'll be good to go." Hana smiled at the sight of her dogs sleeping peacefully on Shikamaru.

On the farthest end of the docks stood Shino, overlooking the water's surface. The water was clear and the moon's reflection could be seen perfectly from the water. Next to the Aburame was Tenten - her body leaning against an upright log; the log itself was tied to another log perpendicular to it that held a lit lantern. Her massive scroll rested at her feet, giving her back a much needed rest at the moment.

Tenten basked in this rare moment of silence for as long as she could - the word "silence" did not usually exist in most of her team's missions. The bun haired girl glanced over to the boy near her and wrinkled her nose in distaste.

As far as she knew, Shino - she heard the blonde say his name back in the house - was arrogant, rude and cocky. His stance alone literally screamed a stoic background and had a touch of superiority due to his silent nature. Not that Tenten minded the silence, mind you, but considering the only sentence she had heard from the Aburame was the one back at the house, she had to wonder what kind of person he really was.

A dick, most likely.

Tenten had her arms crossed across her chest as she leaned back some more. Her hands gripped the material of her clothing even tighter as she furrowed her eyebrows in thought.

She was mad. Mad at the way these three nobodies came along; mad at her sensei for doubting his team and mad because their first C-rank-turned-A-rank mission could be taken away.

_'Gai-sensei got injured on this mission and for what? Just to get it taken away? Hell no.' _Tenten thought bitterly. She closed her eyes for a moment before glancing at the Aburame, only to get startled to see him facing her.

Or so it seemed, at least.

Shino had felt the kikaichū on Shikamaru flee, causing the Aburame to turn to his direction. Shikamaru was fine, a bit wet, but fine. Apparently the Nara had said something towards Hana, resulting with him getting kicked out of the docks and into to the water. Without moving his head, Shino regarded the girl near him.

He had heard of her even before the mission was assigned to them. If he remembered correctly, Tenten was known for her obsession with weapons and the almost unfair precision she had when wielding said weapons. He glanced at the large scroll near her feet and wondered how many weapons she had at her disposal.

Shino could feel the anger in Tenten's eyes - his bugs squirmed from the sensation - but all he did was shrug mentally. He was barely about to face the water once more when he felt Tenten's glare soften into one of curiosity. She looked interested in something. Something in his possession.

"I-Is that a limited edition tactical explosive ordinance vest?" Her arms dropped to her waist as she leaned forward to get a closer look of the vest. She examined the vest thoroughly before placing a hand over her mouth.

"A s-sixth generation variant...?" She was shocked.

Shino tilted his head slightly. Was the vest that impressive? Sure, Shino loved everything about it, but it should be like any other vest, right?

Tenten noticed Shino's head tilt in confusion. He didn't know! She bit back a growl from escaping her throat. _'Having this kind of equipment and __not__ knowing what it is?! What a waste!"_

Shino felt Tenten's curious gaze turn into a furious glare, causing the Aburame to wonder if the girl in front of him was suffering from a seizure of some kind.

"Is something the matter, Tenten-san?" He asked the girl in front of him.

She nodded. "Can you tell me what you are wearing right now?" She pointed a finger at him.

Shino did not respond for a couple of seconds. "A scarf." He touched the material around his neck.

Tenten's eye twitched. _'Oh _great_, he has a sense of humor!' _

She sighed. "I meant your vest." She pointed at the item in question.

"Why do I need to say it? You clearly know what it is." He replied after a pause.

"I'm wondering if you know what it is, funny boy."

Tenten raised an eyebrow when he didn't respond. She marked it off as him thinking his words carefully, and she appreciated that.

To a degree at least.

"I assume something about the vest interests you. I was not aware that this was a limited edition or a variant-"

"_Sixth generation _variant."

"...sixth generation variant." Shino corrected himself.

"I thought as much."

Shino raised an eyebrow. "How so?" Tenten was caught off guard by his quick response.

"A piece of equipment like this should be earned with experience, not gained as a gift." Tenten raised a finger and had her eyes closed as she said this, giving her the look of a teacher.

"Are you suggesting I do not deserve to wear this vest?" Shino didn't sound angry or fazed for that matter. His tone was a curious one.

"N-No, I'm not saying _that_. I'm just saying you shouldn't be using something you have no experience with. Even if it is a gift from your clan." Tenten stammered but held her ground.

Shino tilted his head. "What does my clan have to do with this, Tenten-san?" Tenten could _feel_ Shino's eyes narrow. She recalled the moment she had first met Neji and noticed the similarities between that moment and this one.

"No, nothing, nothing." She quickly recovered.

"Do you perhaps doubt my ability with explosives?" He tried again.

"It's okay if you lack it; explosive tags are dime a dozen in most shops, anyway." She demonstrated by taking a simple explosive paper bomb out of a pouch.

"I happen to make my own." Shino countered with his own explosive tag; the seal holding the explosive being much more intricate. Tenten snatched the slip of paper from his hand.

She gawked at the explosive note.

"Y-You made this?"

He nodded. "Impressed?"

"Well yeah! This _almost_ rivals the ones I make!" She stressed the word.

"Almost?" He replied slightly quicker than normal. Tenten happened to notice this but found his tone to be an interested one, not a sarcastic one or one of disbelief.

He genuinely wanted to know more.

She pulled out her own explosive paper bomb and motioned it over to the Aburame in front of her. He slowly grabbed the edge of the paper before bringing it closer to his face to examine the explosive. The seal array was larger - that usually meant novice work (according to Naruto) - but was excessively detailed in almost every aspect in a paper bomb. His eyebrow raised for a moment before he pocketed the explosive in his vest.

"Impressive work, Tenten-san." Shino nodded towards the girl, surprising her.

Tenten had raised an eyebrow when he decided to keep the explosive, but went wide eyed at the compliment. Don't stoic guys like him usually get upset when they get bested by someone?

Tenten worked hard to get to where she currently was in terms of skill and abilities - she knew how it felt to fail and pushed herself to overcome her shortcomings. In doing so, Tenten had become one of the best weapon users in her village - besting those older than her in accuracy and precision. A good portion of those that she has bested usually denied their loss and went as far as accusing her of "cheating".

The Aburame's cool misdemeanor was a surprise for her.

"Really? That's all you have to say about this?"

Shino shrugged. "What else is there to say?" Tenten picked up the feeling that he liked to answer questions with questions.

"So you're okay with my explosives being better than yours?" She prodded, secretly trying to get a reaction out of him.

Shino had already turned back to face the water when he answered. "I have more explosives than just paper bombs, Tenten-san. I encourage you to remember that." He offered. Tenten remained silent with the feeling that he would continue.

"However, I fail to recall the moment I called my paper bombs inferior to yours."

She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Oh? Then why would you keep my paper bomb if it wasn't superior?"

He answered immediately. "The same reason as to why you kept mine, Tenten-san." Was all he said before turning around to walk towards his friends.

"An explosive's ability cannot be determined by the way it looks, but by its potential in combat." He finished as he walked past her.

Tenten was surprised as she couldn't find his explosive tag in her hands, but instead found it among her own explosives.

_'When did I put it in with the rest?' _Tenten thought in confusion before smirking.

The guy was a dick alright...

...but at least the dick knew his stuff.

**~ xxOxx ~**

Now that some of the tension had come - and gone - the two groups stood before one another. Team Gai stood tall - Gai slightly slouched from the pain - with Lee, Tenten and Neji wearing a determined look. The other group stood up like a defensive wall as Naruto, Shino and Shikamaru stood up straight with their arms crossed; their faces more relaxed than that of Team Gai's. Hana stood behind the trio as the brothers napped at her feet.

"So..." Shikamaru clicked his tongue. "...what happens now?" He sighed internally. He had a talk with his team a moment before they this and he was told to stay quiet this time around. He supposed it would make things smoother, but with leniency comes the aspect of being a push over and the Nara did not want that for his team. Far from it, actually.

As far as the other team went, however, Shikamaru could not accept abandoning this mission.

"We are not leaving this mission." Neji replied as he stared down the Nara defiantly.

"Our mission is to be a relief team; to get you guys back to Konoha in one piece while we focus on the objective left behind." Naruto tried to reason with the other team.

"And our mission is to protect the client until the bridge is complete." Tenten argued. "As you can see, our team is nowhere near critical condition. We can still go on."

"Can you say the same for your sensei?" Shino cut in. "Are you doubting his judgment?" The Aburame pulled the game changer; his smile was hidden behind the scarf.

Team Gai stammered as they collectively looked towards their sensei, who in turn gave an apologetic smile.

The argument was in the trio's favor as of right now.

The area went silent for a moment. Tenten looked discouraged while Neji looked livid. The trio made sure to keep their faces as neutral as possible to keep the tide in their side.

"I do not doubt Gai-sensei's judgment..." Lee had a look as if he had struck gold. "...but there might have been a chance that his judgment could have been clouded from his injuries from the battle with Zabuza!"

The trio grimaced internally as Team Gai picked up momentum. Gai had placed a praising hand on his pupil's shoulder. Tenten could have hugged Lee right then and there while Neji nodded in agreement.

"That's right! Gai-sensei wrote that report as soon as he regained consciousness from his injuries - his judgment could have been wrong at that time! Right, Gai-sensei? Tenten followed up; Lee's momentum pushing her.

Gai smiled as he put a hand on his chin. "I suppose that could very well be true..."

_'What the fuck is happening?' _Shikamaru cursed as the advantage switched over to Team Gai in a flash.

Time to recover. "Do you seriously expect us to believe that Gai-sensei was not in his complete senses when he wrote an extremely detailed report of the current events of this mission?" Shikamaru attempted to rein control back to his team's side.

As a general rule in debate, once an opponent begins to curse or raise his/her voice in their approach, they lose the argument instantly. Shikamaru knew this so he kept his cool to counter and to evoke Team Gai into messing up.

"And in that detailed report, Gai-sensei stated to have injured Zabuza to an inch of his life. Zabuza will be out of it for at least a week - giving Gai-sensei enough time to recover before another fight ensues." Neji countered.

Shino walked forward, closer to Team Gai than to his own team.

"That is under the assumption that Zabuza's accomplice would not interfere or the assumption of Zabuza's estimated recovery time. If Zabuza were to recover from his injuries before Gai-sensei does, what then?" He pushed his sunglasses up with a tip of his finger. "Would you three be able to fight Zabuza, the man who almost defeated your sensei, and an accomplice with unknown abilities as a ninja?" Shino countered successfully once again. The trap had been set.

"We will not lose if it were to come to that." Neji replied sternly. The trap had been triggered.

Naruto walked next to Shino, his presence backing up the Aburame's.

"Are you seriously going to risk Tazuna's life and the future of his village with a cocky answer like that, Hyūga?" Naruto applied pressure to Team Gai's argument. "Are you that sure of your abilities?" Both groups were fighting for the advantage.

Neji sneered before walking towards the blonde. Once face to face, the Hyūga started his defense.

"I am confident in my team's abilities to see the rest of this mission successfully. I cannot say the same for you three, however. Your skills are unknown and that places doubt in my eyes. As you say, how could I risk the future of this village by leaving it in the hands of those that I do not trust?" He jammed a finger on Naruto's chest before finishing.

"From what I remember, you three _dropped out_ from the academy all those years ago."

Tenten and Lee smirked victoriously before walking over to Neji's side.

_'Oh shit, this is bad.' _Shikamaru cursed. Their next words had to be chosen with care.

Naruto did not let his face show any emotion. He needed to keep calm.

Naruto was not ready with a comeback, but luckily for the blonde Shikamaru started.

"A good reason to doubt us, Hyūga. But as you said, I too am confident in my team's abilities..." he popped his neck. "...and am more than confident that this mission will end successfully once it is in our control."

Shikamaru opened the door for Shino to step in. "This mission was given to us by the hands of the Hokage." He popped his fingers. "He found that our abilities impressive enough to warrant a mission such as this."

"Can you seriously doubt the Hokage's confidence in our abilities?" Naruto let a grin form on his face. "We are ready for a mission such as this and the Hokage himself has acknowledged the fact."

_'Time to end this.'_

The trio each pointed a finger towards Team Gai.

"Our mission, given to us by the Hokage, is to provide relief towards Team Gai from their current mission. As stated by the laws of our village, any team that sends a distress signal and/or a call for help will be subjected to an immediate retreat back to the village to recover. From this moment on, the protection of Tazuna - the client - will no longer be of Team Gai's concern." The trio announced simultaneously, bringing the debate to an end.

Hana released a breath she didn't know she was holding. _'Screw being a ninja! These three would be absolutely terrifying in court!' _

Lee was at a loss of words.

Tenten scowled.

Neji narrowed his eyes with anger.

Eyes are the windows to the soul, as the saying goes. They are also a window for the past - the challenges faced, the hardships endured - and a path into the future. The simplest of body movement could be considered the same as eyes in the terms above.

Tenten's hands were still except for the slight jerk of her index fingers as she glanced at her shuriken holster around her leg for a split second. Lee's eyes steeled themselves as he put his body weight on his toes rather than on his heels. Neji's knees buckled slightly, getting ready for anything.

The trio barely noticed these movements before glaring at the opposing team. Their hands slowly got into position.

"Enough!" Hana and Gai interrupted the stare down before it could escalate any further. The Inuzuka was now in between the two groups – her dogs standing beside her.

The trio reluctantly relaxed. Shikamaru shot Hana a look.

"Why did you get in the way, Inuzuka?" He groaned.

"Because if I didn't, a fight would have broken out, baka!" Hana sighed in irritation before turning towards Team Gai.

"Gai-sensei, maybe there's something we can work out."

"I agree!" Gai nodded.

* * *

**Deep in the woods surrounding Wave...**

The moon was out.

It was peaceful, the woods in this area around Wave, I mean. While the small village struggles in poverty and famine, nature thrives with life of all shapes and sizes. The woods in this place are vastly different than those around Konohagakure - where those trees are massive and leafy, these are tangled and barren. While not exactly awe-inspiringly beautiful, the swampy marsh lands hold so much life that it is undeniably gorgeous in its own right.

Instead of admiring the view, pair of soft, pale hands was busy picking up herbs and foliage before depositing them into a small woven basket.

The action was done meticulously; so precise and accurate that it looked mechanical as the hands separated the herbs from the stem.

A twig broke from behind her; about six meters away, she calculated. She suppressed her instincts and simply turned around, faking a surprised expression.

_'Blonde male, five feet seven inches, ninja from Konohagakure...' _Her mind summarized the boy before her instantly.

"You startled me." She feigned a shy voice; her hand was inside the basket holding a senbon lightly. There was a chance she hadn't been discovered yet and she would gladly take it if it meant no bloodshed.

The blonde gave an apologetic smile as closed his eyes before he waved his hands in front of him. "G-Gomen, I didn't mean to scare you, miss!"

Her eyes darted back and forth on the trees nearby, scanning for any others. Once the area was clear, she smiled.

"It is fine. Do not worry about it." She saw him relax before he raised an eyebrow at her in a curious manner.

"So what are you doing here at such a late hour, miss? It isn't very safe." The boy looked around as he spoke.

"Perhaps not, but I must pick these herbs before sunrise." She explained calmly as she raised a herb to show the boy. The boy widened his eyes slightly.

"Those are medicinal herbs, right? Someone you know injured?" The boy got closer to inspect the herb; all the while the senbon in her other hand was ready to be used.

He must have noticed the small tension form around her when he neared, for he stopped in his tracks. "Whoa, calm down. I'm a good guy." He pointed to the headband around his neck as if it backed up his claim. He went down on a knee and extended a hand, expecting to receive the herb.

She had to fight back the urge not to tense up further and instead had to follow up with her innocent façade. She forced herself to relax before handing over the herb with her right hand.

As he grabbed the herb, his hand brushed past hers causing the girl to visibly tense from the foreign touch. He didn't seem to notice as his full attention was on the herb in his hand. She didn't expect for him to answer so quickly.

"This is used for pain relief on torn muscles and lacerations... Someone you know injured?" He asked again, seeing as how she did not answer him in the first place.

The best types of lies are the ones hidden beneath truth.

"Hai... Someone precious to me was injured recently..." She trailed off.

"Someone precious, huh?" The blonde repeated her words before nodding slowly.

"Let me help you."

She was confused from his remark. "What?"

"Let me help you pick herbs for your friend." He stood up on both legs.

"May I ask why?" She looked up at the boy's figure from her seated position.

The moon was behind the boy, shrouding his face in a veil of darkness.

"Because I too... have people who are precious to me." The conviction behind his words surprised her.

The blonde helped her pick some herbs in silence. As several minutes passed, she began to actually relax around the boy; either he was not aware of who she was or he was the best actor she has ever seen.

"Where are you from?" He asked suddenly. His back was facing her as he picked several herbs.

"I live around these parts." Her answer was smooth yet vague.

"Outside of Wave?" He replied but kept going. "Wouldn't it be safer within the village?" She didn't respond, allowing the boy to remember his first day in the coastal village. There were so many pickpockets and thieves - and that was during the day!

"...never mind." He corrected himself swiftly, earning a small laugh from her. Her laugh, even if it was small, brightened up the mood significantly - to the boy at least.

"How was your friend injured, if you don't mind me asking?" He asked after a short pause in silence.

She tensed slightly.

"He was hurt...by some bad people..." She trailed off, hoping she didn't make it sound suspicious.

"Bandits?"

She swallowed. "H-Hai...bandits..." Her voice wavered, yet she didn't know if it was real or fake.

The boy must have noticed the weight of the subject for he changed it immediately. "Well, regardless of what happened, I think he's very lucky."

"Hm?"

"He's very lucky to have someone like you looking over him." He clarified simply.

She felt heat rush to her face for a second before she suppressed the feeling.

The boy kept quiet, perhaps to let her speak. She took the chance.

"You said that you have precious people of your own, correct?" She asked from behind him.

"That's right." He nodded before turning to face her. He smiled.

"I have my family, my teachers, my two best friends and their families... Those are my precious people..."

"And what makes them precious to you?" She added, curious to see his reasoning.

His eyes dimmed, deep in thought as he relived the past. "I used to be an orphan, you know? No family and no friends to speak of. I felt as if I was hated by everyone." He stopped for a moment as he grabbed a handful of grass before letting it go in front of him.

His eyes began to regain their color. He smiled softly.

"...but then I met two kids my age and before I knew it they became my best friends - brothers even. I wasn't so alone anymore since then..." He held out a blade of grass before letting it go with the breeze.

"Their families were so nice to me too and I was happy at that moment. Then two people entered my life and adopted me! They adopted a kid they didn't know!" He laughed.

"They... They gave me a chance... Something nobody had ever given me before and I took it without looking back." He paused before looking at her.

"The reason they are precious, is because they accepted me." His words were followed by another calm gust of wind.

The blonde's words resonated with her on a personal level, striking her odd.

"Then you and I are a lot alike..." She whispered loud enough for him to hear her. She stood up. "Your precious people are very lucky to have someone like you."

She glanced at the moon. "But I am afraid it is my time to depart from here." She turned away from him, the basket on hand.

"Wait!" The blonde called out. "What's your name?"

She had stopped walking. "My name is Haku."

"Nice to meet you, Haku-san! My name is Naruto!" Haku heard him introduce himself.

"I enjoyed your company, Naruto-kun." She replied kindly with a bow after she had turned to face him.

"I had fun too, Haku-san. Can we meet again?" Naruto's voice sounded hopeful.

Haku had already formed a polite decline to his offer in her mind.

"I would like that."

Eh? What was that about?

"Great! How about tomorrow?" Naruto smiled.

Haku was more than just a little confused as to why she accepted his offer.

She did not reply, instead she nodded slowly.

"All right! Same time same place?"

She nodded, not entirely trusting her voice at the moment.

"Maybe I can introduce you to my friends I mentioned earlier! I'm sure you'll get along great!" Haku had to suppress a gasp from escaping her mouth.

_'He's a future enemy.' _She reminded herself.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Haku-san! I hope your friend recovers soon!" He flashed another smile.

_'No, you do not.' _Haku nodded once more before leaving the area. Her body felt numb.

Naruto smiled. "What a nice girl." He sighed before readying the seals. He still had a job to complete, after all.

Once the area was tagged sufficiently, Naruto expelled himself; sending the memories back to the original.

The area was silent, but not empty. An owl, white as snow, was perched on the highest branch of the tallest tree. Without warning, it took off towards the ground where it snatched a single mouse.

The world is a cruel place, after all.

* * *

**Back with the trio…**

"Oi, Naruto! Say something about this, will you?!" Shikamaru snapped his fingers in front of the blonde's face, snapping him out of the trance-like state he was in.

Naruto shook his head. "Huh, what? What's going on?" He looked around. In front of him was Team Gai; the students were arguing with their sensei. Hana was next to Gai attempting to explain something to the students.

"It appears we are going to separate into groups." Shino replied from Naruto's right.

"What? How come?"

"Gai and the Inuzuka made an arrangement together. Team Gai is staying on this mission while we run support instead of relief." Shikamaru sighed.

"That doesn't explain why we're splitting up into groups, though."

"Some crap about 'raising moral' or whatever." Shikamaru shrugged. "And what was _that_ about, Naruto?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto tilted his head.

"You blanked out for a solid five minutes earlier! What happened?"

Naruto got flustered, his memory replaying in his head again. "I think... I think I made a friend."

"?" Neither the Nara nor the Aburame expected that from the blonde.

Before they could ask any further, Hana came up to them. Behind her was a more relaxed, yet still angry, Team Gai.

"Now that everyone is more or less situated with the agreement, Gai and I have made the group arrangement."

The trio looked at one another with discomfort.

"I will be in the group consisting of myself, Neji and _you_." Hana began and pointed a finger at Shikamaru.

"_Great._"

"I _know_, right?" Hana chided before continuing. "The second group will consist of Tenten and Shino-kun."

Tenten sighed, but only as she came to terms with it. "Try to keep up, bug boy." She remarked with a grin.

Shino nodded. "I'll try my best."

"And the last group will consist of Lee and Naruto-kun."

"Yosh! Let's get along, Naruto-kun!" Lee exclaimed with a winning smile.

Naruto followed up with his own smile. "This could be fun!"

Team Gai was feeling better about keeping their mission, but still felt resentment when it came to sharing it. For now, they'll tough it out, but who knows for how long?

* * *

**Midnight...**

Things settled down once the clock struck the twilight hour. The others soon went to sleep in the various guest rooms inside Tazuna's home while the trio opted to sit on the roof. The air was fresh and cool and the slow clapping of the water hitting the shore complimented the atmosphere.

The trio was quiet; pensive about their next objective.

"Phase two?" Naruto asked as he got on his feet.

"Let's do it." Shikamaru nodded.

The trio then instantly disappeared from the rooftop and appeared in the village center. The seals were functioning!

Naruto smiled at his friends before tapping his wrist twice. The other two nodded before they teleported around Wave; hitting every seal they could before stopping right at the edge of the shore on the opposite side of the village.

"Our objective should be five miles west from here." Shino recalled before he ran on the water's surface.

They ran for about ten minutes when they reached their destination.

Heavily armed guards patrolled the catwalks that surrounded the outer walls of the building. All three floors of the building were being patrolled one way or another. On the roof were spotters armed with heavy duty searchlights that scanned the area constantly.

This was their objective.

**Gatō Company Headquarters**

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

**Chapter 5 is up! I liked this chapter for several reasons:**

**The rising tension between the trio and Team Gai, fem!Haku introduced and the trio's secret objective is close to being revealed! My, oh my, things are heating up! **

**Anyways, I have received some questions concerning the ages of the trio and the time period. Here's the explanation:**

**I rose the standard graduation age for the academy from 13 to 17 for several reasons. The first reason was to make sure the main characters (Naruto, Shino and Shikamaru) could have a realistic growth in strength throughout their training without being left behind by the other characters still in the academy. Basically, the events from the original canon – before Shippuden – are all going to happen where they normally would with the only change being the ages of ****some ****of the characters. **

**Speaking of time, from this point on in the story there will be ****no**** more major time skips and time will ****not ****progress forward. The story will be following the general rule of most media (cartoons, animes, t.v shows, etc.) meaning weeks/months/holidays can pass in the story, but no one will age, nor will anyone notice the passage of time. **

**What does this mean for the events that happened during the three year time skip? Nothing really. **

**On a side note, all the omakes are canon in this story. They serve to show how the trio functions with one another with their team, parents etc.**

**If there are any more questions please leave me a PM and I'll make sure to answer them. Please review!**

**Thank you for reading, and as always, have a good day.**

**-TheRedGhillie**

**P.S**

**Omake Ahead! :)**

* * *

Fun in the Sun for Everyone

"Are we almost there, Jiraiya-sensei?" A sixteen year old Naruto asked as he and his friends followed Jiraiya and Yugao.

"Kid, I swear I'm going to bop you a good one if you keep asking that." Jiraiya groaned for the fiftieth time this past hour.

Jiraiya had promised to take the team out for a mini-vacation as a reward for making a team combination jutsu.

The destination?

The beach!

"Are we almost –"

*bop!*

"Ow…"

"I warned you, Naruto." Jiraiya laughed as he walked up a steep incline. "We're almost there!"

Jiraiya was leading the way, behind him was his partner Yugao followed by Naruto, Shikamaru and Shino.

"There it is! The beach!" Jiraiya exclaimed cheerfully as the forest had suddenly ended and in its place was now nothing but sand and the ocean.

Naruto cheered as he ran down the slope, followed closely by Shikamaru and Shino.

"Little brats…" Jiraiya laughed as he looked over to Yugao. "Ready to hit the beach, Yugao?"

She smiled. "I can't wait!"

Yugao was glad. She loved the beach, she loved the sun, and Kami _knows_ it has been far too long since she has had a break!

As the two teachers made their way down the slope into the beach, the trio had already finished changing into their bathing suits. Naruto was wearing a simple pair of orange and white swim shorts, Shikamaru was wearing a gray pair of swim shorts and Shino was now donning a pair of green swimming shorts.

"See you in the water Jiraiya-sensei, Yugao-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed as they ran past their teachers towards the ocean.

"Yeah, yeah." Jiraiya waved them off as he entered a changing booth.

Yugao grinned as she entered her own changing booth.

"You better not peek, Jiraiya." Yugao warned the older man as she undressed.

"What kind of man do you think I am, Yugao?" He sounded offended.

"I think you are –"

"Don't answer that." He cut in before she could finish.

Surprisingly, Yugao finished changing first. She was now wearing a purple floral-print two piece bathing suit. The color matched her hair and she liked the cute flower print it had.

"Jiraiya, you doing okay in there?" Yugao knocked on the door to his changing booth.

"Just about…. READY!" Jiraiya exclaimed as he burst through the door wearing nothing but a white, form-fitting speedo. He looked at Yugao and gave a thumb up. "Looking good, Yugao! It matches your hair!"

Yugao blanched as all the color from her body disappeared.

"Absolutely not!" She yelled before grabbing Jiraiya's smiling face with her hand and then tossed the pervert back into the changing room.

All was quiet for several seconds.

"I'm guessing you didn't like it?"

xxOxx

Naruto, Shikamaru and Shino were in the water, diving deep into the depths to see who could last longer without air.

Why?

Because they could, that's why.

Naruto was standing on the ocean floor – a shallow place in the beach at about 25 feet underneath the surface – with his arms crossed. In front of him was Shikamaru, who instead of standing decided it would be better to sit down. Next to them was Shino who was inspecting the ground for anything interesting.

Naruto was confident he was going to last longer underwater and his cocky grin showed it. Shikamaru smirked because he knew _he _was going to win, not Naruto or Shino. Shino didn't really care so long as he didn't lose.

It was the stare down of the century between Naruto and Shikamaru, both friends eyeing each other, not showing any weakness whatsoever. Naruto went wide eyed as he saw a jellyfish get close to Shikamaru from behind. Shikamaru almost laughed when he saw a fairly large, fairly angry turtle approach Naruto from behind.

*crunch!*

*zap!*

Naruto fell to his knees as the turtle crushed the back of his left leg with its jaw. He screamed in agony but only large bubbles of oxygen came out.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru fell on to his stomach from the painful sting that came from the jellyfish, the shock made him scream out causing him to lose all the oxygen he had left. The back of his head will never feel the same way ever again.

Naruto and Shikamaru both floated back to the surface of the ocean.

Shino had not been paying attention for he found something interesting on the floor he stood on. There were some parts that felt like the ocean floor and some that…didn't. He tapped his foot on a certain spot repeatedly when he saw something from the corner of his eye move. He tapped it once more and saw the ground he tapped begin to _flutter_.

This wasn't the ground, Shino concluded before tapping the spot once more.

This is the eye of a giant octopus, he concluded as several massive tentacles came into view.

Huh.

xxOxx

"Wow, I guess Shino won, huh?" Naruto was impressed as he held the turtle that bit him in his hands.

"Yeah I guess so, but he doesn't need to show off." Shikamaru grumbled as he massaged the back of his head.

Naruto and Shikamaru were still in the water, waiting for Shino to resurface.

"Oh I think he's coming up now." Naruto exclaimed as he saw something heading upwards.

It just so happened to be Shino, swimming as fast as he could.

"Run away, giant octopus." He warned as he made a beeline for the beach shore.

"What did he say?" Shikamaru asked.

*SPLASH!*

From behind them, the giant octopus surfaced.

"Oh crap." Naruto said before following in Shino's footsteps as he swam away.

The giant octopus shot out a tentacle and captured Shikamaru before grabbing Naruto and finally catching Shino. The beast roared before it swung it's captives around the air.

xxOxx

Yugao was relaxing on the beach; a pair of Shino's sunglasses adorned her face. She had spread out a large towel on the sand so she could rest on it and placed one of those large umbrellas over her for shade. Jiraiya was next to her on the sand, making what appeared to be a snowman made out of sand.

A sandman?

A sandman.

Yugao had made Jiraiya change into something more fitting for a public place. In his case, he was made to change into a pair of white swimming trunks with a frog pattern.

"Would you look at that, Yugao? The boys are fighting a giant squid." Jiraiya remarked casually as he placed a sand carrot onto the sandman's face.

Yugao yawned. "That's a giant octopus, Jiraiya. Squids have six tentacles and have a pointy head." She replied.

The rest of the beach goers were acting pretty relaxed about the giant freaking octopus attacking and paid no mind to it.

"I'll go get an ice cream for us, take care of sandman." Jiraiya told Yugao as he walked to the snack shack several yards away.

Yugao nodded but rolled her eyes underneath the pair of sunglasses. She often wondered how one of the most powerful ninja alive could behave like such a… child. She glanced at the sandman and chuckled at how ridiculous it looked.

She removed her sunglasses when a young man, tall dark and skinny came up to her. "Hey babe, what are you doing with that clown?" Yugao assumed the clown was Jiraiya. "Don't you want to have some fun? Me and the guys are having a volleyball game nearby and we were wondering if you wanted to play?" He winked at her.

Yugao could have thrown up right then and there. Before she could answer, the young man noticed her leg and recoiled. "Oh gross! What the hell!" He said in disgust before walking away.

'_It's not _that_ bad, asshole,' _Yugao thought in irritation as she frowned. And in reality it really wasn't. Her leg had healed completely except for a gash-like scar that took up a third of her leg.

"Bastard."

Yugao was surprised to hear Jiraiya say her thoughts. He had just come back and was holding two ice cream treats – a red one and a purple one.

He handed her the red one – cherry flavor; her favorite.

"It's fine Jiraiya, I'm used to it." She took a lick of the cold treat.

Jiraiya scowled before smirking. He made some hand signs as he looked at the game of volleyball being played by the asshole and his friends. Suddenly, the ground beneath the game caved in, causing the players to sink.

The players were now buried neck-deep in sand. Jiraiya thought he could see them crying.

He laughed a mighty laugh. Yugao laughed as well.

"Thank you, Jiraiya. That was sweet of you." Yugao smiled before she enjoyed her ice cream treat some more.

"My pleasure." He replied casually as he took a bite of his purple ice cream treat.

Jiraiya and Yugao looked at the peaceful scenery of the beach; the waves crashing against the shore, the seagulls flying by, the hyper malevolent giant octopus currently thrashing the ever living crap out of their students… Ah, the tranquility was so relaxing.

Jiraiya looked at sandman and put a hand on his chin. "Say Yugao, do you think sandman needs some friends?"

Yugao slowly turned her head to face him. "Sure, but that needs to wait for the next omake."

"The next what?"

* * *

Omake End(?)

* * *

***Remember, these omakes are canon to the story!***

**Please review.**

**Do it for sandman. **

**Please and thank you!**


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